
I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. J 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ^B 



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PROCEEDINGS 



SESQUI-CENTENNIAL 



CELEBRATION 



PETERBOROUGH, N. H, 



THURSDAY, OCT. 24, 1889. 



WITH THE ACTION OF THE TOWN AND ITS COMMITTEES INCIDENTAL 

THERETO. 



PETERBORO' : 

PRINTED AT THE PETERBOUO' TKANSCKIIT OFI'TCE. 

1890. 



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ACTION OF THE TOWN OF PETERBOROUGH AND ITS 
COMMITTEES. 

Preliminary to its Sesqui-Centennial Celebration, 
Thursday, October 24th, 1889. 



At a meeting of the town, held November 6, 1888, under the ar- 
ticle in the warrant to see what action the town would take for the 
proper observance of the 150th anniversary of its settlement, it 
was voted 

"That Frederick Livingston, R. B. Hatch, D. M. AVhite, eT. R. 
Miller and M. L. Morrison be a committee to take into considera- 
tion the advisability of observing the one hundred and fiftieth an- 
niversary of the incorporation of the town by an appropriate cele- 
bration, and report a suitable program for the occasion at the an- 
nual town meeting in March next." 

At its annual meeting, held March 12, 1889, the committee on 
the celebration of the loOth anniversary made the following re- 
port : 

"The committee appointed by the town November G, 1888, to 
take into consideration the advisability of observing the 150th an- 
niversary of the incorporation of the town, and report a suitable 
program, etc., have given the subject that consideration which in 
their judgment its importance demands, and in deference to the 
wishes of a large number of our citizens, would recommend the 
adoption of the following by the town at its present meeting: 

Resolced, That we celebrate, on Thursday, the 24:th day of Octo- 
ber next, the 150th anniversai'y of the incorporation of tlie town. 

Resolved, That the following citizens constitute an honorai'y 
committee on that occasion: Frederick Livingston, John H. Mor- 
ison, William S. Treadwell, Jesse Upton, Theophilus P. Ames, 
Alvah Ames, John Little, Samuel R. Miller, Nathaniel H. Moore, 
Daniel B. Cutter, Asa Davis, Amzi Childs, Thomas Little, Nathan 
B. Buss, Sargent Bohonon, Samuel Converse. 

Resolved, That the following citizens are chosen as a committee 
of arrangements, whose duty it shall be to invito such guests as 
thej^ shall see fit, and do and provide all things necessary for the 
celebration, viz.: John R. Miller, Charles H. Brooks, Ebenezer W. 
Mcintosh, Charles Scott, George W. Farrar, William Ames, John 
Wilder, Thomas B. Tucker, Winslow S. Kyes, Josci)h Farnum, 
Riley B. Hatch, Frank G. Clarke, Ezra M. Smith, Daniel M. White, 



James F. Brennan, Samuel E. Crowell, James II. Wood, A\^illiam 
H. Walbridofe, Sylvester Teiiney, Andrew J. Walbridg-e, John 
Gates, Mortier L. Morrison, Granville P. Felt, Elbridge Howe, 
Joseph Brackett, John Cragin, Albert W. Noone, William ISIoore, 
George H. Longley, Stephen D. Robbe, John Q. Adams, Collins C. 
Robbins, Isaac Hadley, John O. Nay, Jones N. Dodge, Charles 
Wilder, Henry K. French, Franklin Field, Andrew A. Farns- 
worth, \yillard D. Chase, John II. Cutler, William G.Livingston. 

Resolved, That the town raise and ap])ropriate the sum of three 
huiuired and tifty dollars for tiie purpose of defraying any ex- 
penses incident to the celebration, and that the Selectmen are here- 
by authorized to draw orders on the treasurer for all bills of said 
committees, provided their amount shall not exceed the above 
named sum." 

Voted to accept the above report, and to adopt the resolutions, 
and raise and appropriate the sum of $350 for that purpose. 

At the first meeting of the committee of arrangements, at which 
a majority was present, held May 1, John R. Miller was elected 
chairnmn, and James F. Brennan, Secretary. William Ames, Wil- 
liam H. AValbridge and John Wilder were appointed a connnittee 
to nominate the several committees necessary to carry out the cele- 
bration , and report at a future meeting. 

M. L. Morrison, R. B. Hatch and J. R. Miller Avere elected as a 
(ommittee to select and secure the orator of the day, and said 
committee made as their report, at the next meeting of the com- 
mittee of arrangements, held June 12, that they had secured Hon. 
Nathaniel Holmes, of Cambridge, Mass. 

At this meeting, the committee on nominations for sub-com- 
mittees, made their rejjort, which was adopted, and the following 
persons constitute the various committees Avho jjrosecuted their 
various departments to a successfvd termination : 

Executive Committee. — F. G. Clarke, H. K. Freiieli, Charles 
Scott, Wm. Ames, W. D. Chase. 

Committee on Invitations. — Joseph Farnum, W. G. Living- 
ston, Charles Wilder, A. A. Farnsworth, E. M. Smitli. 

Committee on Collation. — Isaac Pettengill, Sylvester Tcnney, 
Jones N. Dodge. 

Committee on Decouations. — John Gates, F. A. Tracy, W. S. 
Kyes. 

Committee on Music. — Fred Robbe, Fred J. Ames, T. F. Burns. 

Committee on Finance. — C. H. Brooks, E. W. Mcintosh, S. 
E. Crowell. 

It was A^oted that (lie executive committee, and those on decora- 
tion and collation have power to appoint such sub-conmiittees, and 
obtain such other assistance as may be necessary in carrying out 
the details of their several offices. 



The committee to secure an orator, with the secretary, were ap- 
pointed to furnisli the orator such information and dates as he 
may require. 

The executive committee, at a meeting- held September 20, de- 
cided upon a grand trades' jirocession, as part of the program, 
and «Iso to add an antiquarian room, as one of tlie attractive fea- 
tures. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Scott, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Steele, Mr. and 
Mrs. Wm. Moore, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Saunders, were appoint- 
ed a committee to liave in charge the antiquarian room. 

James F. Brennan, Jolui Wilder, Charles C. Spear were appoint- 
ed a committee to have in charge the street parade. 

William Moore was appointed bj^ the committee on music to have 
charge of the singing. 

George H. Longley was appointed to see tliat those who were 
members of the band and chorus fifty years ago were invited and 
assig^ned a prominent place in the hall. 

At a meeting- of the executive committee, held October 5, John 
R. Miller was selected as President of the Day, Charles Scott, 
Toastmoster, Gen. D. M. AVhite, Chief Marshal, with i)Ower to 
appoint his aids ; Josepli Farnum and John Scott a committee to 
have in charge the newspaper reporters who may be present; 
H. K. French, M. L. Morrison, A. A. Farnsworth a committee on 
reception. 

A route of the procession (which is embraced in the general or- 
ders of tlic chief marshal) , and a program for the exercises in the 
town hall were adopted. 

The committee of invitation reported that they had sent out up- 
ward of eight hundred circular invitations, and had the names of 
about one hundred more former residents whose present address 
they had been unable to ascertain. 

The committee on collation reported that they had arranged 
with Ervin H. Smith to provide the dinner in the banquet hall, at 
a stipulated price. 

It was voted to invite all citizens in the village, and especially 
those on the line of march, to decorate tlieir houses, tluis render- 
ing our village more attractive, and emphasizing our welcome to 
our absent sons and daughters who meet with us on this festive 
occasion. 

It was also voted tliat the executive committee provide for the 
decoration of tlie exterior of the town hall building. 

It was voted that the exercises of the day be followed by a grand 
vocal concert, and the committee reported that thcj' had engaged 
the celebrated Arion Quartet, assisted by Miss Ida Florence, a 
professional reader. 



6 

The following general orders were issued by Gen. D. M. White, 

upon assuming the position assigned him: 

Genekal Okueks Office of Chief Marshal, 

No. 1. Gkanite Block. 

Peterboro', N. H., October i.'^, 1S83. 

I. Having been appointed Chief Marshal of the exercises on the occasion of the 
celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the 
town of Peterboro', to be held on the 24th inst., I hereliy assume the duties of the of- 
fice, and announce the following appointments as Assistant Marshals and Aids : Capt. 
L. P. Wilson, Chief of Staff ; Capt. M. L. Morrison, Assistant Marshal and Chief of 
Division ; Capt. C. A. Jaquith, Assistant Marshal and Chief of Division ; Aids— Her- 
man A. While, Dr. F. A. Hodgdon, John C. Swallow, Rev. J. H. UoCfman, Dr. C. J. 
Allen, John n. Dane, John W. Rol)be, Rev. W. H. Walbiidge. 

II. Chiefs of Divi.-ions and Aids will report to the Chief Marshal at his office, 
mounted, at S o'clock a. m., the 24th instant. They will also report in person to Capt. 
Wilson, Chief of Staff, at such time or times before the day of parade as he may des- 
ignate, for the purpose of instruction. 

III. Peterboro' Cadet Band, A. P. Stevens Post 6. G. A. R., Charles L. Fuller Camp, 
S. of v., and the Peterboro' High School Cadets will report toll. A. White in front of 
G. A. R. Hea<lquarters promptly at 8:"0 a. m., the 24th inst., who will report with the 
command to the Chief Marshal at 8:15 a. m., near the resi lence of Dr. Caase on Con- 
cord St., where temporary heaJquirters will beestabrnheJ. 

IV. Capt. E. H. Smith commanding Troop A. Cavalry, N. H. N. G., will report 
with his command to the Chief Marshal at temporary headquaiters as designated in 
paragraph III. of these orders, at S:10 a. m., on the morning of the parade. 

V. The line will be formed in three divitions, the light of the first resting on Con- 
cord St. near the village cemetery, and will break into column in the f jllowing or- 
der : 

Platoon of Police. 

Chief Marshal and AiJs. 

l''irxt DlcWton. 

Peterboro' Cadet Band— F. J. Ames, Leader. 

Aaron F. Stevens Post 6, G. A. R.— George R. Peasley, Commander. 

Chas. L. Fuller Camp, S. of V.— E. M. Robbins, Commander. 

Peterboro' High School Cadets— Harry L. Steele, Commander. 

Troop A, Cavalry— E. H. Smith, Commander. 

The Trade Procession will be divided, and will constitute the secon'I and third dl- 
vi.sions. They will be underlhe command of Captains Morrison and J^iquiih, respec- 
tively, and will be ba formed on the left of the fl/st division at the noitli end of Con- 
cord St. All teams and representations of trade and industry must report to the 
Chief Mari-h il punctually at 8:10 a. m. 

VI. The CO umn will move precisely at 9 o'clock in the order abjve named over the 
following route unless otherwise ordered by the executive committee : Up Concord 
St. to Main, up Main to Grove, through Grove St. and over Mori -ion Bridge to Granite 
St., through Granite to Main, up Main and Union Sts. to Prospect St., when the second 
and third divisions will be di^mi33ed, the first division returning down Union and 
Main Sts. to the town hall, where it will be disbanded. 

VII. Parties who participate in the trade or industrial parade can confer with 
Capt. Wil8on,Chief of Staff, or the Chiefs of Divisions, for any information at any time 
prior to the day of celebration. Any parties who have not already signified their in- 
tention to take part in the parade but desire to do so, should notify Capt. M. L. Morri- 
son, that a place may be assigned them in the procession. Bcliuving a-i I do that all 
citizens who are enterprijing enough to engage in thi-t parade, cin realiz3 and com- 
prehend the importance and absolute necessity of punctuality, it seems unnecessary 
lor me to again remind them that they should report promptly at the lime and places 
designnted in these orders, that the literary and other e.xerciics m:iy not be delayed 
or Interrupted, bearing in mind that the column will move at 9 o'cl jck, precisely, on 
the morning of "The Day we Celebrate." 

D. M. WHITE, Chief Marshal. 
L. P. WILSON, Chief of Staff. 



PARADE OF TRADES' PROCESSION. 



The future historian of Peterborough will have occasion to re- 
cord Thursday, the twenty-fourth day of October, 1889, as wit- 
nessing- one of the most interesting, if not one of the most impor- 
tant events in the history of the town. Other events may have left 
a more lasting impress upon the welfare and prosperity of the 
town, but none ever afforded the opportunity for so much real sol- 
id happiness and enjoyment of the multitude of sons and daughters 
of the good old town as did this occasion. On that day the peo- 
ple of Peterborough had, by special invitation, invited all the ab- 
sent sons and daughters and all former residents of the toAvn, to 
join with them in celebrating, with fitting exercises, the one hun- 
dred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of the town. The 
response was g'ratifying in the extreme. 

For many days previous the incoming trains brought many, and 
on the twenty-third they were heavily freighted with those who 
joyously accepted the invitation to join in the festivities of the 
following day. And many were the warm hearted and cordial 
greetings of old friends who had long been separated by distant 
homes. The excursion trains on the morning of the celebration 
were packed with people from the adjoining towns, while others 
came in teams, and not within the last half centurj^ had there been 
so large a gathering- of people in the good old tow'n, especially of 
its absent sons and daughters, as came together on this memorable 
occasion. 

The changeable aspect of the weather for several days previous 
had caused alternate hopes and fears in the minds of those most 
interested in the celebration, but when the morn came the heart of 
the great multitude rejoiced in the promise of a perfect day. And 
the pi'omise was fulfilled, for it proved a most glorious day unto 
the end. 

At an early hour the main streets of the village were filled with 
teams and lined with pedestrians on either side, all anxious to se- 
cure a full view of the trades' procession, which was forming at 
the lower end of Concord street. The procession was formed un- 
der the direction of Gen. D. M. White, chief marshal of the day, 
assisted by numerous aids, and moved promptly at the appointed 
hour — 9 A. M. — in the following order: 

First Division. 

Platoon of Police. 

Chief Marshal, General Daniel M. White. 

Capt. L. P. Wilson, Chief of Staff. 

Hon. M. L. Morrison and Capt. C. A. Jaquith, Assistant Marshals 

and Chiefs of Divisions. 



Aids— Herman A. White, Dr. F. A. Hodgdon, John C. Swallow, 
Rev. J. II. Hoffman, Dr. C. J. Allen, John H. Dane, John W. 
Robbc, Rev. W. II. Walbridge, mounted. 

Peterboro' Cadet Band, 21 pieces, F. J. Ames, leader. 

Aaron F. Stevens Post 6, G. A. R., Geo. R. Peasley, commander. 

Geo. B. McClellan Post 88, G. A. R., of East JaflFrey, 
W. J. Allen, commander. 

Peterboro' School Cadets, Harry L. Steele, commander. 
Troop A, Cavalry, N. H. N. G., Ervin H. Smith, commander. 

Second Division. 

Ancient Carriages, one containing Will A. Knight and wife, the 
other Leroy P. Greenwood and daughter; A. T. Hovey and lady, 
and John F. Dunklec and lady mounted on pillions, with Geo. 
W. Towle on foot acting as conductor, and all dressed in tine, 
well preserved old costumes of the last century. 

Forty-Jive Floats and Carriayes representing the Trades and 
Industries of the Toivn, asfolloivs: 

Peterboro' Transcript, Messrs. Farnum & Scott. Reporters taking 
notes and compositor setting type, representing a printing office 
in operation. A printing press was kept in motion and hand- 
bills were thrown out along the entire route of the procession. 

Brennan's Marble and Granite Works, established in 1849. 
S. Tenney & Son, furniture, carpets and furnishings. 

Tucker's Hotel, Thomas B.. Tucker, proprietor. 

Jesse Martin, tailoring establishment in operation. 

Nicliols Brothers, stove dealers, and workers in tin, sheet iron, 

copper, &c. A most elaborate display. 

G. W. Farrar & Son, representation of the interior of a wheel- 
wright and blacksmith shop-forge in full blast, men shai)ing iron 
on an an anvil Avith vigorous blows, a body maker busy on a 
carriage, wheels and other parts of vehicles, a horse meanwhile 
being shod. Upon the same float was our veteran carriage 
painter, Lorenzo Holt, with his men engaged in painting. 

Peterboro' Bakery delivery team . 

E. Howe & Co., truss and supporter manufactory in operation. 

Howard M. Ilerse}', marble and granite works. 

J. C. Diamond, wood and lumber. 

Will A. Knight, milk. 

C. F. Davis, boots, shoes and rubbers. 

The Briggs Piano Stool Company, display of 
manufactured goods. 

A. Taylor & Co., meats and provisions. 

Ambrose L. Shattuck, ice. 

J. M. Collins, milk. 

Smith Brothers, groceries and hardware, two teams. 



J. Wilder & Co., clothing, hats, caps, trunks, &c. 

Viiiall's Mills, Geo. H. Vinall & Co., proprietors, lumber, two 

teams, one with unsawed logs, the other with the 

tinished product in variety. 

L. E. Wilson, artist, display of photographic work. 

Third Division. 

Two teams containing a choir composed of the girls of the public 

schools. 

Frank E. Taggart, display of stoves. 

E. G. Davis, clothier, hatter and gents' furnisher. 

S. P. Longley, meats and provisions. 

Phoenix and Union Manufacturing Companies, three floats, one 
bearing an ancient hand loom in operation, with ancient wheels 
both great and small, displayed ready for the spinners' use. 
Next came a modern loom weaving cloth, the poAver being fur- 
nished by a belt from a wheel of the vehicle, while the third 
team contained the finished products. 

Settler's log cabin with family inside, smoke ascending from the 

chimney, and the traditional coon skin tacked 

up just outside the door. 

American Express Company team, Geo. P. Dustan, agent. 

Walbridge & Taylor, flour, gi-ain, meal, feed, dry 
goods, and groceries. 

Alvin Townsend, teamster and general jobber, portable engine 
mounted on a truck. 

A. Fuller, mowing machines and other farm machinery. 

W. S. Goodnow, drj' goods, gi'oceries, and clerk fitting customer 
to a suit of ready made clothing. 

Boston Store, display of dry goods, cloaks, small wares, &c. 

J. G. Leonard, watches, jewelry and sewing machines. 

C. Edwin Jaquith & Co., carpenters and builders, three floats. 
The first had a log cabin in process of building while the pro- 
cession moA'ed on, and in contrast with this folloAved another 
bearing a miniature modern house on which the carpenters toiled 
energetically, with Marden building tlie chimney, the tliird con- 
taining an exhibit of dooi's, sash, blinds, &c. 

G. S. Stockwell & Co., and C. A. Coffin & Co., slioes. 

Hilaire Bourdon, representation of Indians and early settlers in 
their early haunts, showing miniature forest and wigwam. 

E. H. & A. O. Smith, market gardeners, extensive 
display of vegetables. 



EXERCISES IN TOWN HALL. 



FORENOON. 



Long before the lengthy column composing the Ti-ades' Proces- 
sion had been dismissed, the crowd had taken possession of the 
town hall and filled every available seat and standing place, and 
promptly at 11 o'clock the indoor exercises were commenced. 

The stage was tastefully trinnned with evergreen and potted 
plants, the dates, "1739," "1839" and "1889," being made especial- 
ly conspicuous. The platform was occupied by the officers of the 
day, the following citizens acting as vice presidents: Freder- 
ick Livingston, John H. Morison, Nathaniel IL Moore, Isaac 
Hadley, Thomas Little, Asa Davis, Sargent Bohonon, Nathan B. 
Buss, Amzi Childs, Christopher A. Wheeler, Alvah Ames, Stephen 
White, W^illiam F. Pratt, Jesse Upton, Samuel Converse, Andrew 
A. Farnsworth, Stephen D. Robbe, Theophilus P. Ames, John M. 
Ramsey, Allen Buckminster, Hubert Brennan, Granville P. Felt, 
Franklin Field, Augustus Fuller, Charles IL Brooks, Levi Cross, 
John B. Dane, John Q. Adams, Joseph Farnum, and with these 
were seated a chorus of forty singers, several of whom ])artici- 
pated in the centennial celebration of fifty years ago, and i)rom- 
inent invited guests. 

The formal exercises of the day were as follows : 

Overture, "Mignonette," by Pcterboro' Cadet Band. 

Address of Welcome, by lion. F. G. ("larjce, Chairman of the 
Execiitive Committee : 

Ladies and Gentlemen: — In behalf of the executive committee 
representing the town of Pctei'boro' ui)on this occasion, I extend 
to each and all a cordial and friendly wek^ome to the festivities of 
the day, and I assure you that the satisfaction Of her citizens will 
be co-extensive with the enjoyment of their guests. We have met 
today to celebrate an important event in the history of our town — 
the absence of her former sons and daughters would have been 
sadly missed — their presence here today in such goodly numbers 
makes our joy complete, and it is the truest token of loyalty and 
affection that you could possibly render to the old i)lace. May the 
tender memories of the past, as well as the fond enjoyment of the 
present, amply reward you for your efforts. 

Lord Nelson said to his men at Trafalgar, "England expects 
every man to do his duty." In behalf of the citizens of Peterboi-o' 



11 

I say to you that every person has performed his duty in connec- 
tion witli this event, and spared no pains to malce tins a day of 
enjoyment to all, and what we expect of her sons and daughters is, 
to ''ask and it shall he given you." Fifty years ago today the 
town of Peterboro' celebrated in a fitting" manner the one hun- 
dredth anniversary of its corporate existence. Then New Eng- 
land and California Avere separated seemingly by impenetrable 
barriers ; today they are joined together by a band of iron that 
will make them neighbors forever. Then the knowledge of im- 
portant events moved at a moderate pace ; today intelligence is 
flashed under the Atlantic ocean to the Queen of England almost 
instantaneously, and all agree that we are living in a marvellous 
age. Then the town of Peterboro' was a quiet, isolated village; 
today it is a bustling, thriving, growing town, connected by rail 
or wire with the civilized world. 

Is it not most fitting that we should pause today, upon this im- 
portant and interesting occasion, beside this one hundred and 
fiftieth milestone, and consider together the changes, the wondrous 
changes that have been wrought during the past fifty years by the 
hand and brain of man ? 

Fifty years ago today such men as Jonathan Smith, Stephen P. 
Steele, John Scott, James Scott, Frederick Livingston, William 
Follansbee, Timothy K. Ames and others, were not only conspic- 
uous in the centennial celebration of the town, but they were im- 
])ortant factors in its development and prosperity. These men 
with one exception have all passed away. They are gone. In their 
day and generation they performed well their parts, and thej'have 
left an indellible stamp upon our institutions and upon the char- 
acter of our people. We are here today, among other things, to 
pay a just and loyal tribute to their worth, and to their memory, 
and while they Avrought exceedingly well, not the least of their 
achievements being the founding of the first /"ree public library in 
the United States, and for it are entitled to our unspeakable praise, 
yet the fact is that the present generation excels the past. It ought 
to excel, for we have had thcbonefitof their wisdom and experience. 
We are not, hoAvever, relying upon the reputation and experience 
of our ancestry alone, but rather upon the brains and sagacity of 
our own men and women, adopting that as a motto which Avas 
ncA'er known to fail. Excelsior ! Excelsior ! 

If the standard of education, temperance, and good citizenship 
has since been raised by us to a considerable extent, I am sure that 
the former sons and daughters of Peterboro' Avill not be jealous of 
the fact, any more than Ave are jealous of the reputations they have 
Avon abroad, but they Avill rather rejoice with us today at this evi- 
dence of our progress and reform. 

While Ave may have advanced in these respects, there are some 
things that I promise yt)U have not changed. They never Avill 



12 

chang-e. I refer to the hearts of our people. They still beat as 
truly, as afFectionately, and as hospitably as they did in '39. And 
ag-ain they welcome you in our midst. 

Prayer by Eev. W. H. Walbridge. 

Address by John R. Miller, President of the Day : 

Fellow Citizp:xs of Peterborough: — To very few, and but 
once in a lifetime, falls the honor conferred upon me, on an occa- 
sion like the present. Appropriately can I address you as fellow 
citizens, since my ancestors were among the first settlers, and with 
their descendants, sleep in your cemeteries ; and from my earliest 
recollections this has been my home. Here have I labored with 
and for you, and what good fortune is mine has been acquired in 
your midst and by your favor. 

Fifty eventful years have passed since our citizens assembled, 
as we are gathered today, to celebrate the first centennial anniver- 
sary of the town, and with g-lad music and song- — in oration and re- 
sponsive addresses, they paid their tribute to the early settlers, as 
they recounted their hardships and privations — their ])eculiarities 
and their virtues, and held up to those who might come after them, 
such qualities and usages as should pass away with their genera- 
tion. Their tribute to those sturdy pioneers was not unmerited. 
Not alone for the heritage beqeathed to their children and their 
children's children, was their gratitude manifested, but in the 
progress they had developed. At the close of the day, and when 
the darkness rendered it nearly impossible to distinguish each 
other's faces, their meeting- was adjourned for a century; ''and 
with shouting and clap]>ing- of hands — ^^joy mingling- with pensive 
thoughts — the assembly separated to lie down in their graves long- 
before the next meeting should be held." Though but one half 
that time has elapsed, how true of nearly all those who were then 
active participants in those scenes. One only of the conunittee of 
arrangements is with us; and "grown old gracefully" the orator 
of 1830 is spared to join with us in this second anniversary. The 
commander of one of the military companies, (S. R. Miller), the 
pride of the town, which added nuich to the pageantry of that oc- 
casion, honors our gathering by his presence, and a few of that 
splendid body of men still remain to participate in our rejoicing's. 
A favored few of tliose who joined in music and song listen once 
more to the refrain, while the youth of that early period and such 
as have since come uj)on the stage, compose the active celebrants 
of today. 

The record of the first half of her second century is fully com- 
pleted, and the town has deemed it Avise that we come tog-ether, 
and invite our absent sons and daughters to contemplate that 
record and determine for ourselv(!s if the responsibilities and op- 
portunities committed to us by the fathers have been faithfully 
executed and wisely improved. To this end, an answer to the 



13 

inquiry, ''What in the history of Peterboro" during tlie fiftj' years, 
is deserving of a celebration ?" made to the connnittee after one 
of its meetings, may be pertinent to the liour. What we were in 
1839 — what we are in 1889. Material progress, wealth, improve- 
ments and natural advantages presented to the rising generation 
are some of the pi'oblems presented, as well as that important one, 
"Have we, as a people, improved in all knowledge, virtue, and every 
moral principle ?'' We can but glance at, (we cannot realize) , the 
change in growth and general outline of our village compared to 
what it was in 1839. Few of the buildings of that time are now 
the same, while larger and more modern structures adorn our 
streets, and our manufactories and places of business have all 
been added as the old gave place to the new ; while the majority 
of farm houses are supplanted by larger and more convenient 
buildings, streets have multiplied with sidewalks, and street lamps, 
and gutters and sewers ; stone bridges span the rivers in place of 
wooden ; the town furnishes its own time, and owns its own ap- 
pliances for extinguishing tires ; the little old town house has long 
been a dwelling place, while a more commodious succeeded it, and 
still later, the present luxurious opera house ; the little red school 
houses — one out in the lot, and one on the hill, where first we 
learned to read, and their dubious substitute — the old academy, 
within whose walls so many of us received our all of educational 
advantages, (now alas! forsaken), while today, our children enjoy 
the luxury of the beautiful rooms, with all the modern improve- 
ments grouped beneath the walls of the building that crowns 
the Hill of Science, and ottering to them educational advantages 
undreamed of, when to those pursuits our steps we bent. The va- 
rious religious societies, which had aforetime worshipped on the 
hills, wisely removed to the centre their earthly temples, within a 
brotherly distance of each other, and with their modern chapels 
and organs, have banished the antiquated bass viol and violin. The 
railroad came, and then another, and then departed the old stage 
coaches and their merry drivers — the resounding crack of their 
whips, and the grace and ease and agility Avith which they round- 
ed out the triji — surmounted the rise and halted at the hotel — while 
the teams, our arteries of commerce until then, sought other fields, 
and the mails that supplied our utmost ueeds at three times a week, 
have increased to four times a day, and still in our fast age, the 
demand is, more speed. Our neighbors furnished the weekly 
news and supplied the locals, save what we purchased from the 
county seat, until the Transcript had its birth; and then the daily 
paj^ers and telegraph and telephone are some among the many 
strides in our advancing progTcss. 

Eventful years truly were those which embrace the first half of 
the period of which we take note today. Often was our peace 
broken in upon, and our usual (juiet disturbed. Excitements fol- 



14 

lowed each othei" in rapid succession. The revolutionizing politi- 
cal cami)ai<i:n of 1840 — the advent of Millerism, followed closely 
by that of Mornionism, in the labors of Magin and nearly all the 
prominent L:itter Day Saints — the Gold Fever of 184!) — the nevei"- 
to-bc-forgotten Know Nothing agitation, when so many saw Sam 
— the birth of a new party and its ultimate triumph in the election 
of Abraham Lincoln, with all which we had much to do and more 
to say. But the culmination was reached when a portion of the 
country resorted to arms against the government, and the tidings 
were tlashed over the wires tliat Fort Sumter had been lired upon. 
It was then demoustrated, and not before, tliat the citizens of old 
Peterboro' were true to the precepts and principles of our ances- 
tors. There was not a disloyal man in our midst, and although 
strong political prejudices were manifested, and injudicious utter- 
ances indulged in, I think I know whereof I speak, when I assert 
that no traitcn- had a dwelling here. 

From the first call for volunteers, until the tinal requisition, all 
citizens manifested an unflagging interest in the defence of the na- 
tion. There were few sacrifices too great for them to make. 
In public town meetings and in private gatherings they provided 
for furnishing the tOAvn's quotas as fast as requisitions Avere made. 
They were lavish of their means that their men should have every- 
thing required for their necessities. Ample provision Avas made 
for the families of those who went forth to do battle for them. 
Our best and bravest abandoned their varied callings, and the 
luxury of pleasant homes and the society of their dearest friends — 
marched to the front Avith but one common impulse, and that, that 
the nation might be preserved — doing all and daring all, if but the 
best government knoAvn to man be i)erpetuated. In the heat of 
summer, in the cold of Avinter, in sunshine and in storm, in swamp 
and through thicket, they faltered not ; Avhere the battle raged 
fiercest, and where the killed, wounded and missing outnumbered 
the survivors, could be found the brave volunteers from old Peter- 
boro'. And not alone went they forth. The loyal hearts and 
prayers of motliers and sisters, of fatliers and brothers and friends 
Avent with them, and in so far as it Avere possil)le, ministered to 
their needs, and aided to their utmost in lightening the hardships 
tliat their devotion to country had imposed. Cherished and 
revered will ever be the memory of those who laid down tlieir 
lives; Avhile our gratitude shall in no degree groAV less toward 
those who returned to enjoy with us tlie ])rotection of that govern- 
ment which they so heroically maintained. 

It must be apparent to the unprejudiced observer, that, as a 
town, we have kept pace with the outside Avorld in those advances 
and improvements Avhich are so needful in rendering a community 
pi'osperous. The church and the school house, emblematic of re- 
ligion and intc^lligence — Avithout Avhich no republic can cmdure — 



15 

improved and more potent for good, still stand side by side, and 
for the higher education of our people. In our customs and hab- 
its we acknowledge no backward step, and our purpose is out- 
lined to go up higher, and take our brother Avith us. In material 
wealth we rank ninth in valuation among all the towns in the 
state. In influence, political and otherwise, we call your attention 
to the number of our citizens who have tilled postitions of honor 
and responsibility in the state and county, and which trusts were 
executed with signal ability; to the many who have distinguished 
themselves and honored the town in the legislative department of 
the state, and to that still larger number who have honored the va- 
rious offices in the gift of the town, and whose faithful services 
have contributed so much to enhance our growth and prosperity. 

In view of what she has accomplished and of what that is an ear- 
nest she will undertake, is it necessary, speaking for the town, for 
me to assert that there is no better place upon which God's sunshine 
falls in which to work out that success in life to which the young 
man or woman, native or adopted, has tirmly, faithfully and deter- 
minedly resolved to achieve ? Not one of our citizens in all the 
past, nor in the future will there be likely to be one, who casts his 
lot with the dwellers in this valley, and beneath the shadow of our 
grand old mountain, but will lind that his merit, ability and adaj)- 
tion for position will be recognized. Such has been the policy of 
this community since it had an organization. We adi|iit that the 
judgement of the masses is critical — seeniingly sometimes slow: 
but the deserving triumph in the end. 

Assembled here, with our absent sons and daughters, we would 
un'te in doing honor to the memories of those early settlers and 
their descendants, whose untiring industry, sterling virtues, in- 
domitable energy and courage, and far seeing wisdom have made 
possible the Peterboro' of today. Be it ours to transmit to our 
posterity this heritage, with vaster possibilities than when we re- 
ceived it — one endeared to us all by the tenderest memories it were 
possible to invoke — our birthplace and our home; that spot to 
which memory shall revert in all the adverse hours of life, and the 
one place dearest of all on earth. May it be the last longing earth- 
ly desire of every native soti and daughter that they be laid 
to rest in their native soil, and beside the friends they loved, and 
their requiem, the sougliing pines, which have kept unceasing 
vigils over the graves of their ancestors. 

Singing by the choir, Mozart's 12th Mass, ''Glory to God on 
Hiffh." 



AN ADDRESS 

DiCl.IVKHEU AT TIIK 150tH AnNIVKRSARY OF THE TOWN OF PETER- 
BOROUGH, N. H., October 24, 1889, 

BY NATHANIEL HOLMI 



Mr. President, and Fellow Citizens : — We are here assembled 
to celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the town of 
Peterborough- AYe have laid aside for the hour the absorbing inter- 
ests of the present that we uiay duly conunemorate the deeds and 
days of our ancestors, consider of our own progress, and take some 
new reckoning, perhaps, for that open future, which, though not 
altogether unknowable, not even the prophet of the Three Times 
(;ould be expected to reveal to us in full. 

The town of Peterborough may be said to date its origin from 
the year ITJW, when the Province of Massachusetts made a gi-ant of 
a township of six miles square beyond the ridge of the "East Mo- 
nadnoc" to a company of proprietors, some of them citizens of old 
Concord; but no one of them appears to have become an actual 
settler. The whole reg-ion was then a wilderness of forest. A few 
t-arlier attempts at clearing had been driven of!" by the Indians. For 
some time, there was doubt about the civil jurisdiction and the 
title to the soil; but in 1741 tlie bouiidarj line between the two 
provinces, as established by oi-der of the King in Council, was sur- 
veyed to run from a point three miles north of the Merrimac at 
Pawtuckct Falls straight westward across the northward trend of 
the river valley to the Connecticut, cutting the old town of Dun- 
stable in two in the middle, leaving the northern part to take the 
names of Nashua, Ilollis, Merrimac and others, and clearly fix i ng this 
older grant within the province of New Hampshire. And in 1748 
the "Masonian proprietors," who had acquired, in 174G,i the orig- 
inal grant of King James I. to the council of Plymouth, confirmed 
by deed the titles of the previous grantees and settlers; and as early 
as 1753 the new town had taken the name of Peterborough from the 
Earl of Peterborough, as the county afterwards, in 1771,2 took its 

(i) For a statement of this title, see the "Address of the Hon. Joel Parker," in Cutter's 
History of Jaffrey, Concord, N. H., 1881, pp. 544-552, and on the organization of towns, 
P- 554- 

(2) Worcester's History of Hollis, Boston, 1870, p. 121. 



17 

name from the Earl of Hillsborougli, two notable Englishmen of 
that period. It was incorporated by that name under Gov. Benning 
Wentworth, on the 17th of January, 1760; and then, for the first 
time, the small colony of hopeful inhabitants (who had thus far 
made their own laws), was invested with ample powers of munici- 
pal government, and its steady groAvth and prosperity were as- 
sured. 

The learned centennial address of the Rev. John H. Morison, 
who stood much nearer thau we now do to the traditions that had 
come down through the older men from the earliest times, and the 
elaborate ''History" of the late Dr. Albert Smith, who gave much 
study, care and pains to the favorite topic of his later years, have 
left little tliat can be added, now, to the story of the tirst settlers, 
or even to the account of the civil, industrial, and moral or relig- 
ious growth and development of the whole community down to our 
day and generation. We delight to dwell on the romantic tale, but 
here we must take an eagle flight over a wide field, touching only 
the higher tops of things, those main facts and features which, like 
the best passages of scripture, may be none the worse for being 
repeated. 

The earliest cleai'ings, made in face of danger from the Indians, 
were begun a few years prior to 1739. The names of these earliest 
pioneers were (according to various traditions) Capt. Thomas Mor- 
ison, Wm. McNee, John Taggart, Wm. Ritchie, Wm. Scott, Wm. 
Robbe, Samuel Stinson, Thomas Cuniiigham, Jonatlian Morison, 
Wm. Wallace, Wm. Mitchell, and Hugh and Wm. Gregg; but no 
permanent families w^ere established before 1749, increasing to 
some fifty families within the next ten years. They came from the 
Scotch-Irish colonies that had already been planted at London- 
derry, N. H., and Lunenburg, Mass., and they were not altogether 
strangers to each other. 

In the summer of 1718, five ships with a hundred or more emi- 
grant families came over from the north of Ireland to Boston : 
some of them found their way to AVorcester and thence to Palmei-, 
Pelham, Coleraine, and other towns in Massachusetts ; a large num- 
ber under the lead of the Rev. John Morchead founded the Fedei-- 
al Street Church in Boston; and one ship with some twenty fami- 
lies, sailing for the Merrimac late in autumn, was driven into Cas- 
co Bay, and was frozen in for the winter at the place which soon af- 
terwards became the town of Portland. Their provisions giving oat, 
they suffered some hardships, but found relief among the inhabi- 
tants there. Upon a petition addressed to the General Court of 
Massachusetts, it was voted to send them "100 bushels of corn meal 
at the expense of the Treasury." A few families settled in that 
vicinity: the rest, in the spring of 1719, sailed up the Merrimac 
to Haverhill, and thence proceeded to that high and beautiful re- 
gion of country that was called Nuttield, because it abounded in 



18 

chestnuts, butterituts, and walnuts ; and there they determined to 
locate their prant of twelve miles square of land. This grant (it 
seems) had been made by Gov, Samuel Shute, then (iovornor of 
both Provinces, upon a petition signed in Ireland. March 2Gth, 
1718, by 217 persons, all but seven (says Dr. Smith) signing- ''in a 
fair, leg'ible hand," before they set out on their voyage. These 
sixteen first settlers and their families that had thus arrived, on the 
22d day of April, 1719, had come over in company with their pas- 
tor, the Kev. James McGregor, most of them from his Parish of 
Aghadowey six miles south of Coleraine in the Connty of London- 
derry, I.i Under a large oak tree on the shore of a bright sun- 
ny lake they joined in prayer and thanksgiving for their safe ar- 
rival in a land where conscience was free. Among them were 
Samuel ^Ulison, James Gregg, James McKean. John ^Mitchell, John 
Morison, Thomas Steele, and John Stuart. They were soon joined 
by a large number of their compatriots, the lands were divided out 
to a long list of grantees, and in 1722 the town was incorporated 
by New Hampshire authority by the name of Londonderry. 

In 1736 (seventeen years later) another ship with emigrants from 
the same counties in Ireland landed at Boston; these families 
passed the winter at Lexington, and in the next summer settled at 
Lunenberg, Mass., and other towns in that vicinity. xVmong them 
were the names Cuningham, Ferguson, McNee, Little, Robbe, 
Scott, Smith, Stuart, Swan, AYhite and Wilson. 

From these colonies Peterborough was tirst settled: but from 
time to time at later dates, and esix^cially after the Uevolution, 
there came also among them other families, ujostly of Eng-lish Pu- 
ritan descent, from various other towns in both Provinces. These 
families have had an important influence upon the aSairs and 
prosperity of the town in the later times, but the i-haracter, man- 
ners and faith of the Scot(;h-Irish element largely prevailed through- 
out the whole first century. 

At the time when the new LondondeiTv was founded, descend- 
ants of the English Puritans from Massachusetts had settled along 
the Merrimac river as far north as the old town of Dunstable, or 
even the UncancM>nue Hills. Some jealousies existed for a tinte be- 
tween the two sorts of people. At first, the Puritans hardly knew 
what to make of the new comers ; some mistook tltem for wild 
Irish. When they started up the Merrimac in boats, and one w^as 
upset in the rapids, it was said that 

"They soon began to scream and bawl, 

As out they tumbled one and all. 
And, if the Devil had spread his net, 

He could have made a glorious haul."^ 



(i) L. A. Morrison's "Rambles tj» Europe," Boston, i8 



19 

The proprietors of East Pennacook (Concord) refused to allow 
them to settle there, but they were not excluded from the later 
.Suncook grant of 17;51 to the survivors of Capt. Lovewcll's bloody 
fight with the formidable Paugus. The Quaker poet Whittieri 
in his interesting' arcoiint of the Londonderry ''rustic poet," Jtob- 
ert Dinsmoor, gives a graphic description of these people. They 
seemed to combine (he says) "the austere Presbyterianism of John 
Knox with something of the Milesian wit, humor and jovialty of 
old Ireland. They were nevertheless an industrious, shrewd, and 
thriving community." They introduced the culture of flax and 
the potato, the little-wheel and the maiiufactur« of linens. They 
soon had good dwellings, a commodious meeting house, schools, 
fine farms and orchards, and accumulated wealth around them. 
By 1775, Londonderry ranked second only to Portsmouth in popu- 
lation. Tiiey were a substantial, cheerful, and sociable sort of 
folks, were not afraid of cider, nor indeed of a little whi><key upon 
occasion. The Puritans said of them that they "held as fast to 
their pint of doctrine as to their pint of rum." They soon had pos- 
session of the fisheries at Amoskeag Falls, where they found plen- 
ty of shad and salmoii, and (according to the poetical Mr. William 
Stark)— 

"It was often said that their only care, 
And their only wish, and their oidy pi-ayer, 
Vin- the present world and the world to come, 
AVas a string of eels and a jug of rum." 

They were apt to be ready at a stand-up fight: w^hen an imperti- 
nent fellow replied to the Rev. James McGregor that "Nothing 
saved him but his cloth," he immediately threw off his coat and 
squared himself for action, saying, "It shall not protect you, sir;" 
whereupon the other thought best to retreat. They were not slow 
at the French and Indian wars, as the names of Goffe, Gregg, 
Moore, Todd, Stark, Cunningham and Wilson, may bear witness. 

They were fond of public gatherings, social parties, fiddling and 
dancing, and the eloquence of town meetings. They had retained 
the old market-fair, where all sorts of persons annually congrega- 
ted, gentlemen and beggars, horse-jockies, peddlers, wrestlers, 
gay young farmers and buxom lasses, in riotous merry-making — "a 
sort of Protestant carnival (thinks AVhittier) relaxing thcigrimness 
of Puritanism for leagues around." 

This little colony of ours had planted itself on the very fi'ontier 
of these French and Indian wars (1744-1 7G3), and of course they 
had to be as skillful with their muskets as with their axes or their 
scythes. The earlier accounts are somewhat meagre, but records 
show that in 17."/J, the propi-ietors voted to send KJ lbs. of powder, 
and 20 lbs of lead, and in 17.04, one ^ bbl. of powder, 100 lbs. of 
lead, and 200 flints to Alexander Scott for the use of the settlers, 

(i) Prose Works, Boston 1889, Vol. II. p. 251. 



20 

and before 1700, the town had sent thirty-two men to tliese wars. 
Of the (ujjiit men enlisted in ''Rodger's Rangers," six fell at once 
in an Indian ambuscade near Lake George. Fourteen lost their 
lives in this service — "a. great number (remarks Dr. Smith) for so 
small and weak a settlement."! 

The first small meeting house was built on the hill in 17.")2; but 
of the earliest society or its ministers, of the first scliools, or of 
the mode of conducting civil business, no records remain. They 
probably managed their afiairs in the way that suited them best. 
It was much the same with another portion of this same emigra- 
tion that went to Pennsylvania and settled in the western part of 
Chester Co., and in the Cumberland Valley, from 1720 to 1750, of 
whose first congTegations no records Avere preserved. Simple 
lieadstones without name or inscription marked the graves of most 
of them. 2 A few tottering stones in the little cemetery on the 
hill record the memory of most (not all) of those who first died in 
this town. There is something pathetic as well as quaint in the 
earlier votings of the incorporated town (17G0-1766) : — "to send 
to Pennsylvane for a gospel minister, and if any come he shall be 
treated like a gentleman" ; — "to lay the floor of the meeting house, 
and build plank seats, and glaze the windows"; — "to communion- 
ate the Rev. Mr. Mori-ow to send us a minister fx"om Ireland, a 
Calvinist of the Presbyterian Constitution, a preacher of the word 
and not a reader", promising £45 salary and "a good new beaver 
hat, if he will accept it"; — "to empower Hugh "Wilson to go to 
Philadelphia, (h* anywhere else on this continent" for a minister: 
and ag-ain "that AYm. Robbe have liberty to build a seat for him- 
self at the left hand of the pulpit, and that he may sit in it as long 
as he pleases." This Wm. Robbe was no doubt a good man. He 
was a seventh son, and cured the King-'s Evil gratis, by his mere 
touch and the gift of a small coin tied around the neck of the suf- 
ferers, who went their way rejoicing. It may remind us of the 
good King Duncan, as described by Shakespeare : — 

"A most miraculous work in this good king I 
* * * How he solicits Heaven, 

Himself but knows ; but strang-ely-visited people. 
All swollen and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye. 
The mere despair of surgery, he cures: 
Hang-iuga golden stuni]) about theiv necks. 
Put on with holy prayers." 

Some still believed in ghosts and witches, and of course the 
devil. Even as late as when John Murray began to i)reach univer- 
sal salvation, a pious elderly lady declared he ought to be arrest- 
ed, for that "it was a shame that any vagabond should be allowed 
to go about preaching that there was na devil." Old black Baker 

(i) Smith's History of Peterborough, Boston, 1876, p. 145, 350. 

(2) Kevin's Churches of the Valley (Cumberlanxl), Philadelphia, 1852, p. igt. 



21- 

saw him once in person at a fork of the road, with horns and 
cloven feet, spitting- five, and oftering- liim a book to read, but he 
dodged away on the other track, and ran for liis life. Under the 
conditions of this early time, we need not much wonder that 
when the admission of a new member to the Church was in ques- 
tion, and objection was raised that he made too free use of the 
bottle, "Well," said a g-rave elder, "if the Loi-dmaun hae a church 
in Peterborough, he maun ee"n take such as there be." 

But we are not to make too large an inference from such anec- 
dotes. These men belonged, in the old country, neither to the 
higher gentry, nor to the lower sort of people, but to the middle 
class of substantial farmers and tradesmen. Some of them had 
considerable education, most of them had property, and were men 
of good ability and strong character. They possessed the energ-y, 
the faith and cheerful nature that could make life endurable under 
the hardships and privations of their actual situation on the fron- 
tiers of civilized society. They had brought with them the man- 
ners, customs, and habits of the Scotland and Ireland of the sev- 
enteenth and tirst half of the eighteenth century. I need not re- 
peat examples of their quaint humor and queer stories, nor of 
their free use of ardent spirits on all i)ublic occasions, house-rais- 
ings, trainings, dancing parties, weddings and funerals, whereof 
you have doubtless already heard enough ; you may find them par- 
alleled in the descriptions of the Scottish poet, Robert Ferguson, 
or of John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, in the poems of Burns, or in 
the more i-ecent "Reminiscences of Scottish Life," by Dr. E. B. 
Ramsay, Dean of Edinburgh. 

At this early period, the roads ran along the higher plateaus, 
and over the highest hills; not one ran along the rivers. The main 
road came down from the East Mountain Pass by Cunningham's 
Pond to the "Street" (so called) at Wilson's Tavern; at a later 
date, a branch ran northward along the base of the ridge by Capt. 
Sanmel Cunningham's and thence down to the "Street" at Gor- 
don's Corner. The meeting house, at first a rough series of addi- 
tions, was built on the highest hill near the centre of the town, 
and was replaced at a later day by a huge barnlike edifice (not fin- 
ished until 1784), without steeple or tower, without paint, and 
without fire to warm it in the coldest winter ; like Dante in the 
14t]i century, they had to keep warm by imagining an extreme 
contrast of opposites. From this sightly elevation, the later white 
steeples of Hancock (Jaflrey, until 1828, had none) and of course 
Dublin, situated in a pass of the western ridge, just under the lofty 
peak of the Grand Monadnoc (which had to be abandoned in the 
winter), were distinctly visible. It was said of the Rev. Mr. 
Sprague of Dublin that when he came to that point in his sermon 
which spoke of faith moving mountains, he stopped short, and 
looking a moment at the Monadnoc, added a doubt whether the 



22 

scripture could apply to that mountain. \Mion a bass viol waa 
tirst introduced here to help out the singing, Matthew Templeton, 
good pious soul, bolted straight home, declaring it was no better 
than worshipping Dagon, but when he went down to Greentield, 
and found that they had a (loon there (which Dr. Smith supposes 
to have been a bassoon), he turned back home and gave it up. A 
pagoda-like sounding board hung over the pulpit from the high 
ceiling above by a twisted iron rod: that it did not l)i-eak and fall 
on the minister's head, undoubtedly had the good efl'cct of inspir- 
ing the young with an unfailing trust in Providence. Of the sage 
assemblies of old and young under the beech trees at noon time, at 
which all human aflfairs were ably discussed by the wiser heads, 
you have doubtless heard already; and it is curious to read in 
John Eamsayi that not long before his day, it was the custom in 
the Highlands on a Sunday (or when there was no sermon) for the 
people to assemble in their best clothes on the sunny side of a hill, 
from the chief men to their humblest followers, to talk over their 
traditions and genealogies, which memory preserved with a pre- 
cision not inferior to that of the Jews of old; the older men com- 
municating to the rising generation the wisdom and knoAvledge 
which they had acquired or received from their fathers. 

Scarcely less primitive were the conditions here, at these early 
dates. In 1754, the proprietors voted "that the Rev. Mr. Harvey 
should have a gun for his use as long as he was an inhabitant." 
Probably no man was safe then without a gun near at hand. They 
had only occasional i)reachcrs before IKK;, when the Kev. John 
Morison (who came from Scotland, a graduate of the University 
of Edinburgh in 1705) became the tirst settled minister. He was 
to have 100 aci'es of land if he continued seven years, and 
was dismissed in 1772. He is said to have been a man of learn- 
ing and ability, but he seems not to have given entire satisfaction 
to his people, being charged at last with the "gravest immoralities." 
He joined the army at Cambridge, and went over to the British in 
Boston, after the battle of Bunker Hill, and died in Charlestown, 
S. C, in 1782. 

The next settled minister was the Kev. David Annan. He came 
from Scotland (under the auspices of his ohh^r brother Robert) at 
the age of eighteen,2 linished his education at Rutger's (college, 
New Jersey, and was ordained at Wallkill for the ministry at 
Peterborough, in 1778; but he had preached here before that date. 
In that year, Wm. Smith, Samuel Moore, Wm. McNee, and Samuel 
Mitchell, were consecrated elders by the Rev. Robert Annan, then 
of the Federal Street Church in Boston, whei-e he was the succes- 
sor of the Rev. John Morehead already mentioned ; and he was suc- 

(i) Scotland and Scotsmen of the \Wi Century, London, 1888, Vol. II, p. 407. 
(2) I have in my possession a copy of John Mair's Latin and English Sallust, Edinb., 1756, 
in which his name is written of the date of 1769, when he was fifteen years old. 



23 

ceeded there, in 1786, by the Rev. Dr. Jeremy Belknap, the historian 
of New Hampshire, whose doctrine closely verged on Unitarian- 
ism ; and his successor there was the celebrated Dr. Channing. 

Upon his settlement, he received 100 acres of wild land in the 
Gridley tract on the old road to Dublin and £65 salary ; and in 
1781, the town voted to "clear, seed, and fence ten acres of land" 
for their minister. It appears that about seven years later, some 
trouble about "seeding- with rye and grass and fencing" was set- 
tled by compromise ; and at length there began to be complaint 
about his "administration of the gospel," and he was dismissed at 
his own request in 1792. After preaching a few years at Chester, 
he was finally deposed from the ministry by the Presbytery of 
Londonderry, in 1800, In the next year he visited Scotland, and died 
in Ireland in 1802, but exactly where or under what circumstan- 
ces, his family in this country seem never to have known, A grow- 
ing habit of intemperance destroyed the usefulness of his later 
years. In the hands of a later owner, the old farm-house has giv- 
en place to the modern residence in Avhich Mr, Levi Cross now 
lives. He is said to have been a man of good attainments, of more 
than common endowments, and a ready speaker, stern and austere, 
but easily pleased, and if opposed, haughty and overbearing. 
Many stories are told of him, which I need not repeat. One tra- 
dition says that he made a fiddle with his jackknif e, and would sit 
with his bible open before him and his inspiriting glass standing 
by, and (as we may suppose), for want of better music in his soul, 
would play tunes for the children to dance. While preaching at 
Chester, his good parishioners were not a little shocked when they 
heard of his saying that "he had prayed over one bed of onions 
and fiddled over another, to see which would fare the best" : — i the 
result of the experiment was not reported. 

The Rev. Elijah Dunbar, a native of Canton, Mass., but of Scotch 
descent, and a graduate of Harvard College in 1794, was ordained 
his successor, Oct, 23d, 1799 ; and with the coming in of the pres- 
ent century, a new era began for both town and church — for the 
industrial, educational, social, and religious amelioration of the 
people. 

This Scotch-Irish emigration had come, originally, in some part 
from the Higlilands, but in greater part from the Lowland coun- 
ties, and they were mostly of Anglo-Saxon, Danish, or old Norse 
derivation. They had colonized the six counties of Ulster in the 
time of James I, They or their ancestors had suffered the utmost 
severities of war and oppression in that dreadful period of English 
history, extending from the days of Cromwell to the union of the 
kingdoms under Queen Anne, in which calamity fell heaviest on 
Scotland and Ireland, Within it occurred the serious troubles 
with the Catholics in Ireland, the tei-rible persecutions of the Cam- 

L (i) Chase's History qf Old Chester, Auburn, N. H,, 1869, pp. 159, 330. 



24 

eronian Presbytorians in Scotland under Charles II., in which the 
people were driven from their churches, and peaceful meetings 
were hunted out of the fields and woods with tire and sword, and 
good men were ruthlessly slain because they would not be convert- 
ed to the English Church; the merciless war, devastation and fam- 
ine under James II., from the seige of Londonderry to the battle of 
the Boyne ; and the vindictive massaci-e of men, women and children 
at Glencoe in 1G02, and other intolerable grievances even under 
the Protestant King William. 

From 1690 to 177;l, there was a continual emigration of these 
people to the American colonies; great numbers of them took 
refuge in Pennsylvania under Wm. Perm's liberal promise of 
cheap land and freedom of conscience. The names of many of 
those who settled in Chester County, and in the Cumberland valley, 
from 1720 to 1750, strikingly duplicate the New Ilampshii-e names 
that came fi'om the same counties in Ireland at the same dates. 
I have found among them the familiar names of Allison, Blair, 
Caldwell, Cunningham, Davidson, Haraill, Holmes, Hopkins, Hun- 
ter, McClary, McFarland, Miller, Mitchell, Moore, Morison, Ritchie, 
Robbe, Scott, Smith, Steele, Stuart, Swan, Taggart, Templeton, 
Todd, Turner, Wallace, Watts, Wilson and White, Avitli a like rep- 
etition of Christian names for many of them.i As early as 1736, 
they began to settle in the Cumberland Valley west of the Susque- 
hannah, and soon reached the western counties on the Ohio, and 
thence entered the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and even down 
to Abingdon, west of the Alleghanies. Otliers coming by way of 
Charlestown, S. C, settled the upland valleys and plains of the 
Yadkin and Catawba in the two Carolinas. They threaded the passes 
of the Alleghanies, and established themselves on the AVatauga and 
theHolston, head waters of the Tennessee, almost beyond the reach 
of any civil government but their own. They peopled the rich 
valley of the Cumberland in Tennesee, and followed Daniel Boon 
into the plains of Kentucky. This Indian fi'ontier became the scene 
of the daring exploits of the heroic James Robertson, John Sevier, 
Evan and Isaac Shelby, AVm. and Arthur Campbell, Andrew 
Moore, Robert Patterson, Benjamin Logan, McGee, McGarry, Mc- 
Connell, John Todd and Geo. Rogers Clarke, and many more, as 
we may read in the pathetic histories of those woeful times of the 
extension of the United Colonies to the Mississippi River. 

After the peace of 1768, still more "Heart of Oak" Presbyterians 
from the same counties in Ir(>land streamed into the INliddle and 
Southern Provinces; other grievances were now added to the 
previous sufferings, and especially in Antrim County, where, upon 
the expiration of leases, rents were raised beyond their endurance. 
They struck for a fee-simple title and absolute ownership in the 



(i) Futhey and Cope's Hhton/ of Chester Co., Pa., Philadelphia, 1881, pp. 150-187; Nev- 
in's Churches of the Valley {Cumberland), Philadelphia, 1852. 



25 

soil on which they were to live and labor, and for a land Avhere 
conscience, too, was free. In Pennsylvania they soon balanced the 
influence of the Quakers. In the Carolinas they formed a larger 
part of tlio valiant forces tliat under the lead of Campbell, Shelby, 
Marlon, Sumter, and Gates, cleared the southern colonies of the 
British and their Eoyalist adlierents, in the first years of the Revo- 
lution, tigjiting' with a courage and patriotic devotion tliat have sel- 
dom been surpassed, and have made "King's Mountain" memora- 
ble in history. The pitiable afflictions of these frontier settle- 
ments, during the French and Indian wars, prior to the Revolu- 
tion, were scarcely exceeded by the like barbarities of the Brit- 
ish and Indians that compelled Gen. Washington and his small 
armies, and also these frontier settlers, to fight the British do- 
minion and power, both in the civilized front and in the savage 
rear from Ganada to Georgia, and from the Allcghanics to the 
Mississippi. I 

In North Carolina, seven Presbyterian ministers, headed by the 
Rev. Alex. Craighead, with their people, were among the brave 
men that, in May, 1775, adopted at Charlotte the famous Mecklen- 
burg Declaration that was (as it were) the prototype of the Amer- 
ican Declaration of Independence. "Indeed," (says Bancroft) 
"the first public voice that was raised for total independence of the 
British crown and Parliament came, not from the Puritans of 
New England, nor from the Dutch of New York, nor from the 
planters of Virginia, but from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. "2 
Not tliat these others were less steady, or not even foremost in the 
cause of liherty, but that these Scotch-Irish settlers had had a 
more recent and a sharper experience (or a more vivid memory) 
of the bitter wrongs and oppressions they or their fathers befoi'e 
them had suflered in tiic land of their origin, and were the more 
determined (if possible) to have freedom, right, and justice in 
America. John Sullivan of Durham, the chastiser of the hostile 
Iroquois, descend(!d from the chiefs of the O'Sullivans of the south 
of Ireland, was a leader of the "Sons of Liberty" that stormed 
the British fort at Portsmouth, in Dec. 1774, and captured the 
powder and lead tliat helped to fill the horns and pouches of the 
"minute men" of New Hampshire that stood by the fence at 
Bunker Hill under Col. John Stark of the Londonderry colony 
from the noiih of Ireland; and as early as the 23d of May, 1775, 
an official letter of the New Hampshire Convention of Delegates 
urged upon the Continental Congress the i)olicy of declaring a 
total independence of Great Britain.3 

(i) Doddridge's Xnlex mill Indian Wars, Albany, 1876: Shaler's Kentiirlni, Boston, 
1885: Phelan s H's/orij of Tantessec, Boston, 1888; Roosevelt's WinniiKj of the West, vol. 
II., New York, 1889. 

(2) IHslnri/ of the United States, vjl. V. 64-7;, vol. VII. 169, 370-373, Boston, 1852. 

(3) McClintock's History of X. II., p. 376. 



26 

When the Revolution beg'an, the town of Peterborough, having' 
scarcely more than 500 inhabitants, was among the first to be wide 
awake in freedom's cause. As many as sixty men Avere §ent to 
join the forces at Cambridge. Thirty-two enlisted in the regi- 
ment that was raised in this vicinity by that Major Samuel Gregg 
who had stood on the heights of Abraham under General AVolfe 
in 1759, and they mai'ched with all speed, day and night, arriving 
only one day too late for the battle at Bunker Hill ; but a consid- 
erable number of Peterborough men were there to share in the 
honor of the day. Capt. Wm. Scott's company, was certainly 
there, one-half of it attached to the reg"iment of Col. James Reed 
of Rindge, and the other to that of Col. John Stark ; and Lieut. 
James Taggart, Randall McAlister, Geo. McLeod, Thomas Green, 
David Scott, and John Graham were wounded, and Capt. Scott 
himself wounded and taken prisoneri ; and it is a well authenti- 
cated fact that he laid on the ground there all the "frosty night'' 
of the 17th of June. Capt. John Tag-gart was also thei'e, serving 
as a Lieut, under Capt. Isaac Farwell, and on the retreat stopped 
with his men to take a drink from their canteens and then said, 
"Now boys, let us trust in God, and take another run." He died 
July 7th, 1777, probably killed at the evacuation of Ticouderoga 
on that day .2 It is authentically related also that Major Robert 
Wilson (who had fought under Wolfe at Quebec) on hearing 
news of the intended march of the British fi'om Boston, started on 
the instant with his company, and had reached Groton when he 
heard the result of the battles of the 19th of April. These were 
minute men, but (as tradition says) a rather motley set of soldiers, 
— not so bad as that ragged regiment with which Sir John Fallstaff 
would not march through Coventry, — but some had heavy old 
Queen's arms, some light French fusees, some pitchforks, some 
shilalahs, and Tom McCoy took his flail, declaring he would thrash 
the British if he could get near enough, — like Spenser's hero, Ta- 
lus, — 

"a man of ii'on mould, 

Wlio in his hand an iron flail did hold. 

Wherewith he thresh'd out falsehood, and did truth unfold.'' 

The story of Captain William Scott is quite famous. After 
escaping from the Britisli at Halifax, he joined the army at Fort 
Washington, and barely escaped being a prisoner again b)"- 
swimming the Hudson river. He was wounded again at Sarato- 
ga, gallantly rescued a drowning family in the harbor of New 
York, and was in Rhode Island under Sullivan, serving with his 
two sons through the war. 



(i) McClintock's History of New Hampshire, Boston, 1888, pp. 334, 335: Smith's Histo- 
ry of Peterboroaghr p. 157. 

(2) Kidder's Hist, of the \st N. H. Regiment, Albany, 1868, p. 129. 



27 

Capt. Samuel Cunningham, one of the two that escaped the In- 
dian massacre neai- Lake George, and one of those that rallied for 
Lexington in 1775, commanded a company at Bennington under 
Stark, and finding himself in another ambuscade of Indians and 
Tories there, he called out in a loud voice, ''Bring up 500 men on 
their flank!" Whereupon, Tories, Indians and all, took to their 
heels, leaving arms and baggage behind. Here it was that the 
young Jeremiah Smith (who was with Capt. Cunningham as his 
servant) had the honor of being wounded. Major Ilobei't Wilson 
was also in the battle, and was sent to Boston in charge of some 
600 Hessian prisoners. 

Col. Andrew Todd, the famous French and Indian fighter of 
Londonderry (who resided in this town in his latter days) , said to 
his grandsons, about starting for Bennington, "Never turn your 
backs on the enemies of your country." John Todd, Senior, of this 
town (who was one of them), himself full six feet tall, is report- 
ed to have said when he got home that he had met Hessians there 
(more probably Brunswickers) ''seven feet high!" 

Not many men were required from this town in the war of 1812 : 
but twenty-tlu*ee answered a call for the defense of Portsmouth ; 
and Peterborough had the honor of furnishing one of the most 
brilliant and efficient oflicers of that war in the person of Gen. 
James Miller. 

On the late war in defense of the national flag, and on the part 
taken in it by this town, there is less need that I should dwell upon 
this occasion, since the memory of it must be still fresh in your 
minds. I find it recorded that this town furnished as many as 
209 men to the 2d, 6th, 13th and other N. H. regiments during that 
terrible conflict. No one who reads of the losses of these regi- 
ments in killed and wounded in the manj^ battles in which they 
were engaged will doubt, and I may safely say it is certain, that 
this latest generation had not forgotten nor lost sight of the glori- 
ous examples of courage and devotion that had been left them by 
their ancestors and forerunners. The Soldiers' Monument, erect- 
ed by the people to the memory of their townsmen who fell, or 
lost their lives in the service, records forty-five names, and among 
them four commissioned oflicers, Capt. Gustavus A. Forbush, 
Lieut. Timothy K. Ames, Lieut. Charles L. Fuller, and Lieut. 
John M. Dodd, and also two women, Sophia, wife of Lieut. Col. 
Charles Scott, and Katie, wife of Capt. John A. Cummings; for 
the other sex was not wanting in sympatliy and help even at the 
seat of war: — a generous tribute to the patriotic men and women 
who sacrificed their lives to the cause of fi-eedom, and for the good 
of the nation ! May it be an example, and an inspiration, to the 
latest generation that shall come after us. In no nobler cause 
could they have fallen than tliat of maintaining and perpetuating 
the most just, the most truly fi-ee, and on the whole the best gov- 



28 

ernmcnt the world has seen ; a g-ovcriimcnt whicli is grounded, and 
only can bo grounded, on the intelligeiicH?, jnulriotisin and self- 
sacriticing devotion oi: the people who made it, or were born un- 
der it, or were sworn to adopt it, and alone can uphold it, if it is 
to stand lirni on its own foundations of riglit, law and liberty, and 
of which the prime and supreme object is to establish, secure, and 
defend the just civil rights and liberties of all who live under it, 
in due line of order, degree, and authentic place in the whole civil 
frame and social organization of the republic. 

Those tliat returned from the war were nearly as five to one. 
How many of them still survive as worthy citizens of the town, I 
have no means of knowing- exac^tly. Some few of them I know 
and take pleasure in alluding- ta that far descended Scotch-Irish 
line of Scotts, which produced (in Lieut. Col. Charles Scott) a 
Avortliy represntativeof his martial ancestors, both in respect of his 
military service in the late war, ami of the important civil posi- 
tions he has held (one of them being that of High Sherift" of the 
County for eighteen years), since the war ; and also to that branch 
of the large family of Whites, which was descended from Patrick 
AVhite, who had three sons in the revolutionary war, and found a 
fitting representative in tliat young scion, who came out of the 
cavalry service with a lieutenant's connnission, and has since risen 
to high distinctions for military skill as a Brigadier General of the 
New Hampshire militia, and now holds a respectable rank in the 
legal profession of his native town and county (Gen. D. M. 
White), and is at present a U. S. consul in Canada. 

The Scotch-Irish settlers brought with them the culture of flax 
and tlie little-wheel. Linens and woolens liad been manufactured 
in the north of Ireland for three centuries or more ; but in l(>t)9, 
certain French Huguenots, headed by Louis Cromndin, tlie invent- 
or of the little-wheel, inti'oduced that valuable instrument, "the 
nuisic of which for a century and a half was the glory of the small 
farmer's inglenook." The new Londonderry soon became noted 
far and wide for its linens, and by tlie legislative act of March 7th, 
1731, the busy town was autliorized to stamj) its goods witli a seal, 
having the words Lo)idondcrri/, jV. //. engraved upon it, to mark 
the superiority of their manufacture. This was the first trade- 
mark I have read of in the history of American law. John Hop- 
kins purchased a large tract of land for a web of linen cloth. 
Madam Miller, wife of Dea. Samuel, made the linens that paid for 
the farms of her four sons in this town. The domestic manufac- 
ture of linims and woolens prevailed almost universally throughout 
the century. AVhen the patriotic town of Boston was resisting Brit- 
ish taxation in America, at a certain anniversary of the "Society 
for the Tromotion of Domestic Manufactures," three hundred 
women with their little-wheels sat in a tripple row on Boston Com- 
mon, busily spinning the flax. In the early days, men were still 



29 

the weavers; but tlic women, too, took an interest in the welfare 
of their country and of their husbands, for tliey Averc not merely 
"spinsters," but spinners and weavers both in nearly every farm- 
house in the land. 

The Hon. Samuel Smith, son of AVm. Smith, Esq., may be said 
to have been the founder of this village, and the pioneer of its 
manufacturing' industries. As early as 1793, he began to erect a 
series of all sorts of mills on the site of the present Phoenix fac- 
tory. In 1808-9 was built the first factory for spinning cotton, 
called the ''Old Bell" because it had a bell, and in 1809-10, the 
"Old South" became the second, and the "Old North" followed in 
1813. The stockholders were nearly all citizens or sons of the 
town, and among them were the names Ferguson, Field, Holmes, 
Miller, Morison, Robbe, Scott, Smith, Steele and AVilson. In 
1812, Samuel Smith put cotton-spinning into one end of his long 
series of mills, and in 1823, the other end was replaced by a large 
brick eatton-mill for both spinning and weaving, called the "Phoe- 
nix," and it was put in operation by his son, Samuel G. Smith. 
One cold morning in December, 1828, I saw t^'o miles off a col- 
umn of smoke ascending straight up into the clear sky, and ran 
all the way to the village to witncs.> the burning of the great Phoe- 
nix factory: — a disaster that gi'eatly impaired the fortunes of its 
principal owners; but other capitalists coming in, another Phoenix 
presently ai'ose from its ashes, and was placed under the superin- 
endence of John H. Steele, and subseqiientlj^ of Frederick (and 
then of Jonas) Livingston, and under the direction of Mr. A\^m. 
Ames, it still flourishes with wings spread as ever before. 

Among the capitalists who have built up and sustained the three 
largest cotton mills of this tawn from tliat day to this, is properly 
to be named hei'e that able and enterprising merchant of Boston, 
the late Isaac Parker, head of tlie old and wealthy iirm of Parker, 
Blanchard, Wilder & Co., son of the Hon. Abel Parker of Jaftrey, 
and brother of Judges Asa and Edmund Parker, and of that learned 
jurist, Chief Justice Joel Parker of this State, a remarkable family 
of sons, born just over the Jaffrey line near the southwest corner 
of Peterborough, or, (as he said in his interesting letter read at the 
last centennial), "born, as it were, upan the borders of the town, 
and familiar with its brooks and rivers before factories were 
hardly thought of." He began his busy life when a boy with set- 
ting card teeth at home for Mr. Snow of Peterborough. 

I once asked my father where he learned to build machinery. 
"Why, nowhere," said he, "a man that can turn a spindle and 
make a little-wheel can build a whole cotton factory." His father 
was a little-wheel maker as well as farmer, and his father before 
him had been a Londonderry weaver and farmer. While he and 
his elder brother, Nathaniel Holmes, Jr., were building the ma- 
chinery of the South Factory, there came one day to the shop a 



30 

young man fi'om Salisbury, N. C, seeking employment, and he 
was taken in. His father had emigrated to that place from the 
north of Ireland, and died leaving his son a poor orphan boy. He 
had heard of the Yankee town from Nathaniel Morison while en- 
gaged for a time in the making of carriages in that State, and who 
had employed and befriended him. This was John H. Steele. He 
became an expert machinist, and built the tirst looms of the "Old 
Bell" factory, which were set running in May, 1818. This was the 
first cotton-factory but one (that of Benj. Prichard at New Ips- 
wich in 1803), and these were the first power looms built in the 
State of New Hampshire. He had great difficulties to overcome. 
His models came from Slater's mills in Rhode Island, or jjossibly 
from AValtham, Mass. No regulator of speed had tlien been in- 
vented. He told the story himself that while he was puttering and 
contriving for three days or more to get his loom into working 
order, a boy standing by said to his little sister, "Wliat is Mr. 
Steele doing there?" "Why?" she asked. "Because," said the 
boy, "it sometimes looks like cloth and sometimes like harness." 
His friend John Smith, Esq., had said to him, "Steele, Steele, you 
booby, why don't you try." Nathaniel Holmes, Jr., built the 
machinery of the first cotton mill at East Jafti-ey, with Artemas 
Lawrence, then the Avery cotton-mill at Meredith Bridge (now 
Laconia), and then another of his own at Sanbornton Bridge (now 
Tilton). Sanmel Holmes, with his younger brothers Eiios and 
John, built a cotton-factory for spinning and weaving and a 
machine shop at Springfield, Vt., in 1822-23, and a newer mill on 
the same water power still makes satinet warps under the direc- 
tion of Henry B. Holmes, a grandson of John. I scarcely need add 
that John H. Steele built the first Union cotton-mill in West Pe- 
terborough, in which he was an owner, and for many years the 
prosperous superintendent ; and he became an influential citizen 
in the town aftairs, and was a representative in the legislature, a 
councillor, and twice the governor of the State. In his later days, 
he lived a near neighbor to my father in the village, and they often 
sat together, talking over the events of their earlier days, and dis- 
cussing the politics of the nation. They belonged to the old Jef- 
fersonian school of political ideas, and found it difficult to recon- 
cile themselves to the fearful catastroplie of civil war, until an in- 
evitable necessity had forced it upon them, and they lived to see 
the constitution preserved. 

The first looms of the Phoenix factory were built under the di- 
rection of John and Robert Annan, sons of the Rev. David An- 
nan, in 1822; and the machinery of the Union cotton-n)ill No. 2, 
was built under the supervision of Josiah S. Morison, a grand- 
son of Dca. Robert Morison, and a skillful niachinist; and it was 
put in operation under the superintendence of Frederick Living- 
ston, in 1858. The two Livingstojis, Frederick born in Townsend, 



31 

Mass., and Jonas, born in Sharon (once a pai't of "Peterborough 
Slip"), sons of William and Elizabeth (Saunders) Livingston (who 
came over, the one directly from Scotland, and the other from the 
north of Ireland), were endowed by nature with ability, in- 
sight and prudence, were educated here in all mechanical skill, 
persevering industry, and a M'ise economy of business, and may 
be said to have been fit and worthy successors of Samuel Smith 
and John H. Steele in the management and development of the 
manufacturing intei'ests and financial prosperity of the town in 
common with their own. The stately form of Frederick Living- 
ston, sound in body and mind at the green old age of 88 years, is 
still visible among us, if not exactly the last tree in the deluge of 
time, yet the compeer of the earlier men who have departed, and an 
example to the younger who are still coming on. 

There were and still are other active and able men in these indus- 
tries, not to be overlooked, though I can but name some few of 
them : these were (after Nathaniel Morison, sometime proprietor 
of the South factory, who died while yet a young man), Stephen 
Felt, who put looms into the North factory in 1823, and was for some 
years also proprietor of the South factory, and his son, Granville 
P. Felt, for many years (and until fire and other calamity overtook 
him) an extensive builder of machinery of all kinds; then there 
was the old "Eagle"' factory of Daniel Abbot, Thomas Baker, and 
Joseph and Abisha Tubbs (now replaced by another), and their suc- 
cessors, Moore & Colby, or William Moore, for many years a pros- 
perous builder of machinerj^ and a substantial citizen ; the several 
saw and grist mills from that of Jonathan Morison in 1751, of 
Benj. Chamberlain, Asa Davis, Abraham Holmes and others, down 
to the large new flouring mill of Walbridge & Taylor ; and then 
the paper makers, the Smiths, A. P. Morrison, and the Cheneys; 
the woolen mills of AVm. Powers, Thomas Wilson, and Henry F. 
Cogswell and his successors, the Noones, father and sons, exten- 
sive manufacturers of woolens down to this time; the peg mill of 
Mark Wilder, for some time a large business in small things, and 
now the big shoe factory of Mr. C. A. Coflin, or I hardly know 
whom : — factories of all sorts, cards, baskets, i^iano stools, hair 
dyes, and finally Brennan's marbles that the memories of the dead 
may be fitly recorded: — and indeed if I were to include all the 
mercantile and professional avocations, saying nothing of the ag- 
ricultural, a greater variety than I could enumerate, unless the sun 
were to stand still for a while. 

The old "South'' has disappeared from the face of the earth, 
gone up in fire, and no phoenix to rise from its ashes. The old 
"North" has lost its ancient cunning, but has gained a new one, 
and now sends out thermometers and barometers all over the 
country under the magic hand of Charles Wilder, son of Mark. 
The old "Bell" has survived its function of spinning and weaving, 



32 

its great water power having' been converted to the transforming of 
wood into paper, and the hist thing I heard of it was that wlieii it 
became known lliat its enterpi-ising owner was going to niak(! wa- 
ter ])alls out of paper, some great Western Trust Coni[tany gobbled 
up tlie whole concern, and sluit down its gates. 

Tlie days of domestic manufactures seem to have departed. Eveu 
at the last centeiuiial, several speakers (compliiueuting the ladies), 
warned them to beware of tlutlerers and imilate the virtues of their 
mothers, if not of their grandmothers, who had few luxuries, did 
their own Avork, and heard littleotlicr music- than tliat of the wheel or 
loom, but were (said Gen.. John Steele, umrshal of the day), honest, 
wise and virtuous, and if they ever indulged in a song, it was sure 
to be the old "Battle of the lioync." Wc arc not to imagine, how- 
ever, that there were no sports or pleasures in those days; for it 
was also said that Avlien the minister eluded the young men and 
women for dancing together, the elderly Mrs. Gordon (one of the 
strictest Presbyterian sect) rather snappishly remarked, "Let the 
minister take his dram out of his own bottle, play his own iiddle, 
and leave tlie young people to their innocent amusements." Sam- 
uel A])plet()n, a na'.ive of New Ipswich and a wealthy merchant- 
maiuifa(;lurer of Boston, sent in liis toast to the ladies: that where- 
as "the matrons of the olden time, as in tiio days of King Solomon, 
laid their hands to the spindle and distatf, spun and wove by their 
own fu'esides, and clothed themselves and families in homespun, 
now, their granddaughter^!, merely watching tlic spinning-jenny 
and the loom, clothe themselves in silks, and fare sumptuously ev- 
ery day." I am afraid, however, that the ladies of our time may 
suspect that all the truth lies in the first proposition, and all the 
poetry in the last. When I look at these great cotton-mills, I am 
reminded of the pictures of royal palaces in the midst of orna- 
mental grcmnds and gardens; they look very well on the outside. 
Sure enough, the domestic wheels are gone. Dr. Smith thus sang 
liis sad requiem over them: "Little-wheel and lireat-wheel, wheel- 
head and wheel-pin, dislati", quills and quill-wheel, hatchel, swifts, 
and clock-reel, cards, spools, and warping-bars, reed-;, harness, 
loom — all, all have long since gone to the attic, or banishment from 
all our households; the buzz of the little-wheel, the whirr of the 
great-wheel, and the constant click of the loom arc heard no more." 
True enough — and perhaps the sewing-machine will go next; but 
what has become of them? Why they are all hived uj) into these 
same royal nalaces aforesaid, to be whirled by water, by sleam, or 
by electric power. Does anyone ask how then arc jieoplc to live? 
Live! AV^hy, bless your soul, you are to live on nectar and ambro- 
sia, like the gods and godesses of the golden age, and dress in 
robes of celestial moonshine. 

By the end of the first century considerable changes had taken 
place. When the men of the second and third generations had 



33 

come upon the stage, knowledge and book learning were more dif- 
fused. Newspapers and new ideas were afloat in the air. The 
leaders of the congregation were becoming wiser tlian their minis- 
ters. Coiigregatioualists of Puritan descent had become more nu- 
mei'ous, and a new era came in with the new century and tlie set- 
tlement of the IJev. Elijah Dunbar, a Congregationalist; but a 
large part of the people still preferred the Presbyterian forms. 
The difficulties Avere not easily to be reconciled, but' a satisfactory 
arrangement was made that the Presbyterians should have the 
Lord's supper administered after their own manner, one Sunday 
in each year, and the Rev. Dr. Wm. Morison of the Londonderry 
Presbytery officiated in this until his death in 1818. It was object- 
ed by some that Mr. Dunbar was an Arminian. The Rev. Mr. 
Sprague of Dublin assisted at his ordination. Several leading men 
of the congregation waited on him to know what they should do 
with this Mr. Dunbar. "What's the matter?" asked Mr. Sprague. 
"AVhy," said they, "he preaches nothing but works, works, 
works." "Oh, is that all," said he of Dublin, "then you will never 
be hurt, for no people need such preaching more than you of 
Peterborough." A\^hen the church in Nashua proposed to settle 
the Rev. Elias Smith, in 1757, many objected and said, "he is not 
of our persuasion, but favors the Arminian scheme, which (as we 
judge) tends to pervert the gospels and darken the counsels of 
God." In half a century more much progress had been made. In 
1820, Mr. Dunbar, with his deacons Smith and Holmes as dele- 
gates, took part in the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Leonard, a Uni- 
tai'ian, at Dublin as the successor of Mr. Sprague who had been 
more of a Unitarian than a Calvinist.i By the year 1825 the 
Town-Church in Peterborough came to an end. The old meeting 
house on the hill had become dilapidated, untenantable, and soon 
disappeared altogether. The people were separated into two soci- 
eties : one built a new Presbyterian Church at Gordon's Corner, 
which continued some years under the ministry of the Rev. Peter 
Holt, the other built the fine Unitarian church in the village. 
Like variances seem to have continued in the Presbyterian section; 
their connection with the Londonderry Presbytery soon came to 
an end ; they took on the more convenient Congregational form, 
and built a new church in the village, in 1839; and finally all prac- 
tical differences seem to have been accommodated in the new 
organization of the "Union Evangelical Church," which has now a 
large congregation. Under whatever changes, the society has con- 
tinued to have an important and beneficial influence on the moral, 
social and religious culture of the people. In the language of the 
Rev. George Dustan, who was for twenty-five years its able and 
faithful pastor, I may say, "This people builded better than they 

(i) Hist, of Dublin, Boston, 1855, p. 181. 



34 

knew ; and the result has proved that Scotch-Irish temperament 
and heart, thoroughly annealed by prayer and consecrated com- 
mon sense, is good material for a church, * * and rarely has a 
church no larger than this had so many and so judicious men and 
women in christian alliance, * * and kept abreast of the liberal 
aim of the times. "i The Presbyterian Synod, stretching over a 
whole state, appears to have been less adapted to the civil and so- 
cial organization of the towns of New England, but it still prevails 
extensively in the South and West where no such towns exist. 

The Rev. Mr. Dunbar continued his useful labors for twenty- 
seven years. He was a man of large stature and dignified pres- 
ence, and his sonorous voice easily filled the large house. In his 
later time, it began to be seriously felt again among the wiser 
heads that under the pressing difficulties of various kinds that had 
beset the course of his own excellent life he had fallen behind the 
knowledge, learning and advancing ideas of the growing time; 
and in 1827, the Rev. Abiel Abbot was ordained his successor in 
the newly organized ''Congregational Unitarian Society." 

The Rev. Dr. Abbot was a man of superior learning, ability 
and character, a graduate of Harvard College in 1787. and his val- 
uable instruction was entirely acceptable to his people for the 
twenty-one years of service he was able to render them, before his 
advancing age compelled him to retire in 1848 ; and he was fol- 
lowed by a succession of able and worthy men, for an account of 
whom I must leave you to Dr. Smith's "History" and your own 
recollection. The society celebrated its semi-centennial year in 
1876, at which the discourse was delivered by the Rev. M. J. 
Savage of Boston. Dr. Abbot seems to have held a high rank 
among the Unitarian clergj' of his day. In his latest years (and he 
died in 1859 at the venerable age of 93), he resided with his grand- 
son, the Rev. Sanmel Abbot Smith of West Cambridge, Mass., 
who united in his name and in himself the two lines of Smith and 
Abbot, and Avas a worthy representative of so notable an ancestry ; 
a man of fine genius and generous nature, whose life was cut off 
by a too early death in his zealous devotion to the health and com- 
fort of the citizen soldiers at the seat of war in Virginia. 

Other religious societies began to be formed as early as 1824, for 
an account of which and their beneficial influence in their several 
spheres I must i^fer you to history and your own memories, — 
Methodist, Baptist, and finally Catholic; for even the Catholics 
have also come among you, glad to enjoy the blessings of freedom 
of opinion, conscience, and worship, in peaceful community with all 
the rest, under a government which secures to all alike a just and 
equal liberty under the general law of the land, and willing (I 
trust) to participate in the benefits of that general system of com- 



(i) Historical Address, Peterborough, iS 



35 

mon schools, open and free to all, and maintained at the public ex- 
pense, the object of which is, was, and should be, to teach all chil- 
dren alike to read, write and cipher, or those prime elements of 
the intelligence and knowledge which must lie at the foundation of 
all free and just government, — that common school system, which 
is older than the National Constitution, and which has been grow- 
ing into the customs and laws of the several States for two cen- 
turies and a half, and goes back for its inception almost to the very 
first Colonial origins. 

Common schools have existed in this town ever since its incor- 
poration. They have grown to the number of eleven districts, and 
within the memory of those now living, if not now, they were well 
filled witli boys and girls anywhere from five to twenty-one years 
of age. The school system was reorganized by the Legislature in 
1827, and there is now a State Superintendent of Public Schools. 
As the population gravitates toward the central valleys, the 
schools must needs follow, and if they do not increase in breadth, 
they may grow in volume and height. An Academy for higher 
branches was founded on voluntary gifts in 1836, which seems not 
to have found an adequate patronage; but in 1871, a High School, 
more nearly answering the needs of the immediate community, was 
established by the town, and is open to all of sufiicient qualifica- 
tion. It has a tine new building on a sightly elevation. 

As early as 1811, some small libraries of limited use began to be 
collected, and in 1833, a public library was founded by the town, 
to be maintained out of the town treasury, and be open and free to 
all. It has received considerable additions from time to time from 
private contributions of the citizens, or from the liberal donations 
of sons of Petei'borough, who have gone forth to other towns and 
states, and have not forgotten their native place. This library has 
the credit of having been the first of the kind to be established in 
all the United States. It numbers at present about 5000 volumes ; 
and now, surely, there can no longer be excuse for ministers or 
people, if they do not keep up with the knowledge, science, litera- 
ture and progress of the age. 

Of the long roll of professional men which such a people and 
such institutions could produce, or could maintain, whether natives 
or strangers, it might be superfluous, if it were possible, for me to 
undertake an adequate account. Dr. Smith enumerates them all 
down to his time.* I can only allude to some of them as I have occa- 
sion. I may remark, however, of the physicians, that it appears that 

(i) The lawyers now in practice are Ezra M. Smith, Daniel M. White, Riley B. Hatch, 
Frank G. Clarke, and James F. Brennan. 

Physicians now in practice: Drs. John H. Cutler, Willard D. Chase. C. J. Allen, F. A. 
Hodgdon (Homeopathic), and Cyrus H. Hayward (Dentist). 

Clergymen: Rev. W. H. Walbridge, Unitarian; Rev. J. H. Hoffman, Evangelical; Rev. 
James A. Francis, Baptist; Rev. P. L. McEvoy of Jaffrey, Catholic; and Rev. Dana Cotton, 
Methodist. 



86 

nearly all of those who were natives to this town have gone else- 
where to practice their profession, while nearly all who have prac- 
ticed here for any length of time have come fx'om other places. 
I can hardly except Dr. Albert Smith, who first went abroad, but 
soon returned to pi'acticc here all the rest of his life. Nor can I 
omit to mention our venerable fellow citizen, Dr. Daniel B. Cut- 
ter, a descendant of one branch of the numerous family of Jaffrey 
Cutters, a graduate of Dartmouth college, in 1833, ISI. D. at Yale 
in 1835, who came to this town in 1837, and has dilligently and 
faithfully practiced his pi-ofession here all his life long with the 
respect and g-ood will of the people ; and if he were not the first, 
he seems likely not to be the last among you. In 1881, Dr. Cutter 
published his interesting "History of the Town of Jaffrey." 

The composition of the people changes in more senses than one. 
It was estimated by Dr. Smith that not much more than one-sixth 
of the inhabitants were direct descendants of the early settlers. 
He gave a list of thirty-seven influential families of the century 
before he wrote, in which not a single descendant, bearing the 
name, remained in the town, and of fort)" more in which but few 
of the name still I'emained here; and he mentioned fifteen of the 
original settlers on wild land, whose descendants of the name still 
occupied the farms of their forefathers. And all this was doubt- 
less so far true. I have found as many as twenty descendants still 
living on farms that were occupied by their ancestors more than a 
half century ago, three of them with a change of name.i Dr. 
Smith also obsei-ved that in looking over the active business men of 
the town, they seemed to be all ncAv: he does not say they were 
all entire strangers. No doubt some of them were, and perhaps 
still more are now ; but we must bear in mind that farms have be- 
come more and more a merchantable commodity, and that the 
mere names in the tax list are not a very certain test of continu- 
ance ; for we all know very well that one side of every house al- 
ways shows a kind proclivity towards a change of name. It is 
certain that if you take the known descendants (wherever they 
are) of the older families, and trace them back for three or four 
generations, you will find them to be nearly all cousins in some 
degree. If you take in all the principal families (excepting only 
very recent comers), whether originally of Scotch-Irish, English 
Puritan, or other descent, you may find, perhaps, that the continu- 
al intermarriages widen out in the descending stream and commix- 
ture of life until the branching lines are nearly all linked togeth- 
er, and names and distinctions become greatly modified, or are 
wholly lost, in the one whole body corporate and politic that con- 
tinues to live on as before. This is only a particular instance of 

(i) These names were Adams, Barber, Brackett, Diamond, Dunbar, Field (John and Wil- 
liam), Hunt, Leathers, L.)ngley, McCoy, Moore, Morison, Hadley (Wm. and Isaac), Robbe, 
Templeton, Treadwell, Washburn and Wilson. 



37 

that constant process that has been going on thronghout the coun- 
try for two centuries or more of the rapid interweaving of the va- 
rious threads of kindred race and stock, of capacit_y, talent, genius, 
into the more refined texture and complex web of a new American 
people. 

Nevertheless, I will endeavor to trace some brief summary of 
the chief families, earlier or later, and I will begin with the set- 
tlers from Londonderry: 

And first, the Morisons were descendants here of that John 
Morison, whose father John died at the new Londonderry in 1736, 
and who stood with his father's family under the walls of old Lon- 
donderry at the famous siege, died here in 1776, at the age of 98, and 
may very well be styled the patriarch of the town. They were an 
important family here for several generations. If but few of 
them now remain, more may be found in other states. Five of 
them, still partly resident among you, I may just mention, the late 
Prof. Horace Morison, for many years an eminent instructor at 
Baltimore, who died here in 1870, and whose family retain at this 
day the homestead of his ancestor; Geo. S. Morison, Esq., the 
distinguished civil engineer, and his brother, the Eev. Robert S., 
both landholders in the town; Nathaniel Holmes Morison, LL.D., 
Provost of the Peabody Institute of Baltimore, for many years a 
successful educator of young ladies in that city, also a land own- 
er, and a liberal benefactor of the schools and library of his native 
place; and the Rev. Dr. John Hopkins Morison, the eloquent ora- 
tor of the last Centennial Celebration, whose rare genius, extensive 
learning, and great excellence of character, have gained him dis- 
tinction wherever he has wandered, doing honor to himself, his 
lineage, and the place of his birth. May his eighty years of well- 
spent life long rest easy on his venerable head. In the line of Na- 
thaniel and Mary (Hopkins) Morison, son of Dea. Robert and 
Ehzabeth (Holmes) Morison, there have been eleven graduates of 
Harvard College, and as many as eleven students at Phillips Exe- 
ter Academy. 

Next the Ritchies, descendents of that earliest pioneer, William 
Ritchie, whose son John, the first male child born in this town, 
gave his life to his country's service at Cambridge, in 1776, a re- 
spectable family of farmers here for several generations. The 
Rev. William Ritchie, a grandson of the elder William, Avas a 
speaker at the last centennial, and died in 1842. Five of his grand- 
sons lost their lives in the late war, Henry being killed in battle in 
1864. The old elms that fifty years ago hung over the red house 
of the Ritchies now stand around its ruined cellar on the present 
farm of Mr. Geo. S. Morison, one of the first spots cleared in the 
town. 

Then the Steeles, descendents of Thomas and Martha (Mori- 
son) Steele of Londonderry, and of their son, Capt. David Steele 



38 

of this town, have furnished a long succession of substantial farm- 
ers, manufacturers and teachers, two major oenerals of militia, 
and as many as six lawyers of distinction to as fnany towns in 
the State, down to the late Stephen P. Steele, a trusted counsellor, 
who held high civil positions in the town aflairs. Jonatlian 
Steele, a son of Capt. David, was an eminent lawyer of Dui-hara, 
student, partner, and son-in-laAV of Maj. Gen. John Sullivan, and 
a judge of tlio supreme court of the State. Jonathan Steele of Ep- 
som, a son of Thomas of this town, was also an able and eloquent 
advocate, and the compeer at the bar of Geo. Sullivan and Ezekiel 
Webster, whose eloquence (when he was himself), said Chief 
Justice Smith, ''was beyond any music I ever heard." But few, 
if any of the name, remain here ; how many representatives in the 
several lines of descent there may be living elsewhere is more 
than I can tell. The line of the Hon. John H. Steele is represent- 
ed by his son George, in Wisconsin, by his son Charles in Ohio, 
and by his grandson, John H. Steele, the present town clerk. 

The Greggs, too, were an influential family, descendents liere 
of the famous Major Samuel Gregg of the revolutionary time, who 
had fought under Gen. Wolfe at Quebec, and of his brother, Lieut. 
John Gregg; and they are not yet extinct, though none of the 
name remain in this town. In another branch of the original 
family was that English Admiral Gregg who was recommend- 
ed by his government to the Empress Catherine II. of Russia, 
and whose grandson, Lieut. Gen. Gregg, held high rank in the 
Russian service as late as 1872, and still felt an interest in the 
American branch of the family .1 They derive their name from 
the McGregors of Loch Lomond. Col. William Gregg of Lon- 
donderry was also a distinguished officer of the revolution. Ma- 
jor Samuel was an industrious and prudent man, and when not en- 
gaged in the service made little-wheels, raised flax for the women 
to spin, and was (said his grandson, the late Samuel Gregg of 
Boston) "a great economist, from whose well-loaded table no 
man ever went away hungry." He was a grandson of Capt. 
James Gregg, one of the first sixteen settlers of Londonderry, a 
chief man there, who had a special grant of land for a mill. The 
old mill may still be seen at the east end of the bridge over Beaver 
Brook in the lower village of Derry. He was the founder of a 
numerous family in this and other States. Catharine Gregg of 
Londonderry (I think) was the mother of Gen. James Miller. Rep- 
resentatives are still to be found, on one side or the other of the 
house. Mr. Washington P. Gregg (son of Samuel of Boston), a 
lawyer by profession, was for 45 years or more the faitlrful clerk 
of the city council there, and now lives at East Milton, active and 
bright, tliough well up towards 90, and has in his possession the 

(i) Letter of E. H. Derby, Esq., of Boston, who met him at St. Petersburg in that year. 



39 

family bible and the official sword of Major Samuel Gregg", his 
great grandfather. 

The Mitchells, decended from Dea. Samuel Mitchell, the first 
town clerk, and a pillar of the church, continued to be substantial 
farmers in this town within the memory of some now living. If 
the name has disappeared from the town lists, it is still represent- 
ed in other places. His son, Benjamin, was present at the last cen- 
tennial as one of the three survivors of the eighty-three citizens 
who signed the "Association Test," in 1776. Stephen Mitchell, Esq., 
his son, was an eminent lawyer of Durham, and was selected to 
address Lafayette in 1825. Another son, Dr. Frederick A. Mitch- 
ell, was a distinguished physician at Chester, and died in 1809, at 
the age of 80. 

Of the Millers, there were two branches, both from London- 
derry, one descended from Dea. Samuel Miller, who purchased, in 
1780, the four hundred acres of land for his four sons, Matthew, 
James, William, and John, that were paid for by the linens spun 
and woven by Madam Miller. They have been a numerous and in- 
fluential family down to a late day. Of this line were Gen. James 
Miller (son of James), the distinguished ofiicer of the war of 1812 
(for an adequate account of whom I must refer you to Dr. Smith 
and other historians), and his brother Hugh, for many years se- 
lectman and representative ; the late Dea. Sanmel (son of Hugh) , 
of the Unitarian congregation; and Mark Miller (son of Andrew), 
a noted horticultural editor in Iowa, and his brother, Dr. Luke 
Miller, an eminent surgeon of Minnesota. No one of this branch 
remains here, unless I may name Miss Martha Wilder, a grand- 
daughter of Jane (Miller) Templeton (a sister of Gen. James Mil- 
ler) , who resides on the old homestead of Matthew Templeton, her 
greatgrandfather. In the line of the other Samuel, a respectable 
family of farmers here for several generations, there are two rep- 
resentatives, one of them being John R. Miller, Esq., president of 
the day, who has been in successive years a journalist, druggist, 
postmaster, justice of the peace, and (I thirik I may add) a very 
useful citizen in general. 

The Allisons, descendents of Samuel and Catharine (Steele) Al- 
lison of the first sixteen settlers of Londonderry, were represented 
in this town by John Allison, his great grandson (and son of Sam- 
uel 3d of Dunbarton) , and in the families of Daniel Abbot and 
Dea. Nathaniel Holmes, who married daughters of Samuel 2d, of 
Londonderry. John Allison was for many years the overseer of 
the "Old Bell," factory. The name has disappeared from this 
town, but is still represented by his son, John P. Allison, Esq., a 
thriving lawyer of Sioux City, Iowa. Daniel Abbot, who worked 
as a carpenter on the old meetinghouse when a boy, was for many 
years a cotton manufacturer and a trader here, and died at West- 
ford, Mass., at the age of 84; his wife died in New York City in 



40 

1837. Representatives still survive in the families of his sou Dan- 
iel (I think), of the late John Scott of Detroit, and of Jefferson 
Fletcher, formerly a trader here. And here I may add the name 
of Samuel Allison Holmes son of Samuel of this town, and a 
great grandson of that Capt. Samuel Allison 2d, who was one of 
Capt. Mitcheirs ''Londonderry Troopers'' in the Indian wars, and 
was keeper (with John Bell) of the Londonderry powder in 1775. 
He was 1st Lieut, and Adjt. of Lieut. Col. Easton's St. Louis battal- 
ion in the Mexican war, and served all through the late war as 
Colonel of two successive Missouri regiments, commanded a bri- 
gade in Gen. Grant's campaign against Vicksburg, ami was pres- 
ent with his regiment at the battles of Franklin and Nashville un- 
der Gen. Thomas. 

The MooRES, descendants here of the brothers Samuel and AVil- 
llara, sons of that John Moore of Londonderry who was born on 
the night of the massacre of Glencoe, in which John, his father, 
was killed, and his mother, two sisters and himself barely escaped 
with their lives, have been a respectable family in this town from 
an early period down to this day, and they are still creditably rep- 
resented both here and in other States, especially New York, Illi- 
nois, and Michigan. 

Dea. Samuel Moore married, in 1751, Mai'garet, daughter of 
John and Margaret (Wallace) Morison, a sister of Elizabeth, who 
married William Smith, Esq., of this town at about the same 
time ; since it is said that they were attending her wedding, and 
liked the idea so well that they immediately mounted horse and 
rode to a justice of the peace at Chester, and were joined at once 
without further ceremony. He came to this town with Samuel Todd, 
in that year, and bouglit land on Windy Row, and settled first on 
what has since been called the "Spring place," and later on the 
farm known as the "Mitchell place." He was the first representa- 
tive of the town at Exeter in 1775, and held important town oflSces 
until the end of the Revolution. He owned two slaves, named Baker 
and Rose, and sold Baker his freedom, but never I'cceived any 
pay, and provided in Ids will that his son Ebenezer should support 
Rose as long as she lived. I have found that several of the Moore 
families of Londonderry and Bedford owned slaves at that early 
period. 

The brother, William Moore, married Janet, daughter of Na- 
thaniel and Elizabeth (Moore) Holmes of Londonderry, and set- 
tled in this town about 1763. He had seen service in the French 
and Indian wars, was a Lieut, of militia, and a warm patriot in 
the revolution ; she was a noted spinner and weaver of both linens 
and woolens, and a patriot also, if all accounts be correct. In this 
line were the late Dea. Nathaniel and his sons, John of South 
Carolina, William and Dea. Nathaniel H. of this town, George 
Washington and Thomas of Michigan, and William A. Moore, 



41 

Esq., a lawyer of Detroit and a g-raiidsoii of the elder Wil- 
liam. Ill the name of Dea. Nathaniel Holmes Moore was thus 
united a double line of Moores interwoven with the Holmes 
line, his great grandmother Holmes having been a daugJiter of an- 
other John and Janet Moore, Avho came over to Londonderry from 
Antrim County, Ireland, about the year 1724, and were the jjarents al- 
so of Col. Robert of Londonderrj', and Col. Daniel of Bedford, both 
colonels of N. TI. regiments of militia in the revolutionary service. 
They are said to have suflered great hardships on the passage over, 
and she was called Jenny Flavel because she was a "great reader" 
of the Puritan Flavel's Works. No doubt she was a very pious 
womau, but probably not quite so fierce as that Jenny Geddes that 
hurled her stool at Laud's Tidchan Bishop's head, — "Wilt thou say 
mass at my lug, then." Col. Daniel Moore (wlio was a captain 
under Stark at Bunker Hill) served all through the revolution, his 
regiment being at Saratoga under Gates, and in Ilhode Island 
under Sullivan. As many as four of his great grandsons served in 
the late war, two of them in Gen. Sykes' regulars, both captives in 
the Libby prison, where one of them died, and the other being ex- 
changed served to the end of the war, but with health greatly im- 
paired for the rest of his life, and he died at the soldier's home in 
Maine, in 1880. The memory of Henry Moore, son of Dea. Na- 
thaniel H., is recorded on the soldiers' monument iu this town. 
James N. Moore, sou of Thomas, served in the late war, and Capt. 
William C. Moore, son of George W., was wounded and cap- 
tured in the first Bull Run battle, and was nearly starved in Libby 
prison before he was exchanged and made a captain ; and he served 
with distinction to the end of the war, but unfortunately lost his 
life, soon afterward, in crossiug a swollen river on the western 
plains. You all know how well our venerable fellow-citizen here 
(who still occupies the early homestead of his family) has exem- 
plified tlirough his long life the virtues, the patriotism and the 
faith of his ancestors, who believed (nearly all of them) in the 
language of their day and generation in "the resurection of the 
body by the mighty power of (jlod." 

The HoLMESES were represented here in two branches, probably 
of the same stem: one that of Abraham Holmes, son of John and 
grandson of Abraham, a first grantee of Londonderry, Avhose great 
grandson, Mr. Thomas Holmes, now occupies the homestead of his 
ancestor there ; the other was that of Dea. Nathaniel of this town, 
a sou of Nathaniel of Londonderry, who came over from Coleraine, 
Ireland, iu 1740, with his father (Nathaniel of Coleraine), who 
went on to Pennsylvania Avith his three minor sons. He settled in 
this town in 1784, but he had been here before that date;. Tradi- 
tion says that he went to Cambridge in 1775 at sixteen as servant 
to Lieut. Henry Ferguson, and he enlisted (with his older brother 
Jonathan) in Capt. Finley's Londonderry company for Benning- 



42 

ton in 1777. The name has disappeared from the town lists, but 
is numerously represented in this and other States, and especially 
in New York and Michigan. There have been soldiers, farmers, 
machinist s manufacturers, mei'chants, and professional men among- 
them. Other descendants of Nathaniel of Coleraine were wealthy 
families at Carlisle, Pa., still represented in that State, New Jersey, 
New York, Tennessee, and Missouri ; and descendants of Robert 
Holmes, the youngest son of Nathaniel of Londonderry (who lived 
with his brother here when a young man), now reside in New York, 
Missouri, and California, and at Elmgrove, the homestead of their 
ancestor, on the fertile banks of the Elkhoru (Scott Co., Ky.), 
and at other places in the chosen land of Daniel Boon. Jonathan, 
youngest son of Dea. Nathaniel, succeeded to the home farm 
which he sold to the town for a Poor farm, in 1837. The price 
($3,850) was paid out of the town's share in the distribution of 
surplus revenue in the administration of General Jackson. He 
removed to Bronson, Mich., and died there in 1884, leaving a Avid- 
ow, two sons and two daughters, and a large estate. She was a 
granddaughter of Ensign John Taggavt of Dublin, who served at 
Bunker Hill,i and was born in this town, a son of John, the early 
settler. The old house has been burned down, the old wheel-shop is 
gone; some barns remain, but of the two or three orchards that 
once filled a whole cellar with barrels and hogsheads of cider only 
a few scattered, half-dead trees survive; but the better part of the 
farm in the hands of Ezra M. Smith, Esq., still shows green fields 
and fat cattle. In the line of Abraham was the late Prof. Stephen 
R. Holmes, a graduate of Harvard College in 1822, son of David of 
Amherst; in the other line, on one side or tlic other of the bouse, 
there have been eight college men, five at Dartmouth and three at 
Harvard, and at least six at Phillips Exeter Academy. 

The family of George Senteu, a trader at the South Village, 
and sometime a mail-contractor, who married a daughter of Gen. 
John Steele, is represented by his son John of Eagle River, and his 
daughter, Mrs. Antoinette Mandlebaum of Detroit. 

The SsriLKYS began here with Dr. David Smiley, who came from 
Haverhill, Mass., in 17G0, a revolutionary soldier, a doctor, and a 
Baptist preacher, — not exactly a jack, of all trades, but a kind of 
master of all arts, — first a shoemaker, then a soldier, then a farm- 
er, then studied medicine, and then (nobody knows where) theol- 
ogy; and, like the Rev. Dr. Doddridge on the Pennsylvania fron- 
tier, he preached and practised all his life long with good etfect on 
his patients, and only since the last Centennial laid down all 
earthly functions at the venerable age of 95. He is still represented 
here by Mrs. John G. Leonard, a daughter of that ingenious watch- 
maker and very useful citizen, the late Mr. David Smiley. 
Matthew Wallace, for many years of the early time, wasmod- 

(i) Hist, of Dublin, Boston, 1855. 



43 

enitor, town clerk, selectman, tithingman, and representative, 
and owned the '•Saninel Morison Place" prior to 1789. His lirst 
wife was (1 think) a daughter of Matthew Wright of Londonder- 
ry, and his second was Mai-garet, daughter of Capt. Thonnis Mor- 
ison. He removed long ago to Vermont, where he died. His son 
Jonathan was a Universallst minister at Potsdam, N. Y. The 
Wallaces were an important family of Londonderry, three of 
whom married daughters of Col. Robert Moore, and were noted 
men of llennikcr. They were descendants of Thomas and Mary 
(Wilson) Wallace, that very notable lady who in her day was called 
"Ocean Mary," becansc she was born at sea on board of a pirate 
ship which had captured the vessel on Avhicli her parents were em- 
igrants in 1720; but the pirate captain, having a wife and children 
of his own at home, had some touch of humanity left in hiin, and 
set them all free, and sent them on their voyage with rich presents 
to the happy motlier and child. ^ 

The Davisons (or Davidsons), descendants of Dea. Thomas Da- 
vidson who settled in the soutliwest part of the town in 1755, have 
disappeared from the lists. When he married Miss Anna Wright, 
daughter of Matthew Wright of Londonderry, in 1757, she is said 
to have borrowed from Mrs. Elizabeth Holmes her large wooden 
bowl that was carved out of a huge oak knot, and held near a half 
bushel, for the barley broth that was served in the orchard at her 
wedding. It came from Antrim Co., Ireland (and still survives), 
and was supposed by the elder ladies to be two hundred years old, 
and to have been used perhaps by some Highland clan for 

'"Tlie healsonie pairilch. chief o' Scotia's food," 
But further this deponent saitli not; — perhaps, after all, it came 
"From old King Coiil 
Willi liad a blown bowl. 
AikI was a juiiy old soul." 
Nothing -aid about the Avhiskey. He died in 1813 at 86; she died 
in 1823 at 88. I remembei" attending her funeral at the old man- 
sion of the Davisons one cold day in January when the snow was 
three or four feet deep. There were no ai'dent spirits there then, 
I think, but would not be very certain. Their son Charles married 
Abigail, sister of Asa Evans, and lived on the ''Davison (or Frost) 
place" near the village. Their daughter Mary mariiod Major 
Jotham Hoar, whose daughter Sally (widow of Nathaniel Holmes, 
Jr., and of William Mooi-e of Michigan) died in 1887, being 
within ten days of 100 years of age. Their son William, who 
married his cousin Jane, daughter of Matthew Wright of JafFrey, 
succeeded to the farm, and died at the age of 70. I never knew 
of his being a hard drinker, but two or three of his sons certainly 
were, as also their uncle Matthew Wright, if all accounts are 
true; and it was said of him that he was a man of ability, but an 

(i) Cogswells Hist. 0/ HenniLcr, i83o. 



44 

infidel (wliicli I suppose meant something very bad in those days), 
and further (what was no doubt true) tluit on his death-bed he 
sent his son down to New Ipswich for a big- jug- of rum, "that 
a' the poor divils at his funeral might have enough." John Ram- 
say of Ochtertyre mentions a gentleman of Menteith, who, in giving 
directions for his funeral, added, "For God's sake, Joini,give them 
a' a hearty drink." It was an old saying that a Scot's funeral was 
merrier than his wedding. And Dr. E. B. Ramsay tells of an old 
maiden lady of Strathspey, who sent for her nephew, and said to 
him, "Willy, I'm deeing, and as ye '11 hae charge of a' I leave, 
mind now, that as meikle whiskey be drunk at my funeral as 
there was at my baptism." Tiiese old cusotms have happily 
passed away. Until near the end of the first century, the boys 
worked at home till twenty one. At the Davison's as elsewhere 
one might see the skins of fox, mink, musquash, and )-arely an 
otter, nailed up to dry, and the meadow brooks were fished, some- 
times at night witli pine torches and spear, a sort of trident or 
"three-taed leister" as Burns called it. Now, I suppose we should 
have to go to the Great AVest to find either the boys or the fishing and 
hunting. The old mansion of tiie Davisons is gone, but the farm 
is still productive in the industrious hands of Mr. William Moore. 
Some few representatives still slirvive, I think, in other places. 
William's s;)n John, a machinist and a very res|)ectable man, re- 
sided (when last I heard of him) with his family at Ilolyokf!, Mass. 

John Todd, Senior, a grandson of the famous Col. Andrew Todd 
who married Beatrix, one of the daughters of that John Moore that 
was killed at Glencoe, and lived in this town in his latter days with 
their daughter (Mrs. William Miller), was a son of Samuel, the pio- 
neer settler whose camp provisions the Indians stole (but did not 
find those he had buried in the woods), and who was killed at last 
by the falling of a tree. This John was present at the surrender of 
Burgoyne. When a young man, he lived with the Hon. John Bell 
of Londonderry. His first wife was Rachel, daughter of George 
and Mary (Bell) Duncan, and his second was Sarah, widow of the 
Rev. David Annan. He was a Scotch Presbyterian of the old 
style, a man of the kindest feeling and most benevolent nature. He 
lived to nearly 90, and always had prayers in his family, at which 
he would read and sing, line by line, one of David's Psalms: what 
the tune was I would not undertake to say, — 

"Perhaps Dundee's wild, warbling measures rise, 

Or plaintive Martin's, worthy of the name, 
Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame, 

The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays, — " 
but what I do remember is, that at the end of each line, his loud 
voice would take a sudden twist upward to the highest note in the 
scale, ending in a kind of screech. The young jjcoplc could hardly 
help laughing, if they had dared to laugh ; my sister Elizabeth 
said that she was frightened rather, and indeed, it was more like 



45 

4n Indian warwhoop than any musical cadence. His son, Dea. 
John Todd, Jr., some years resident here, will be remembered as 
an Elder in the Presbyterian church, a member of the legislature, 
and a good man of the type of his ancestors, and I learn from a 
lelter (lately received from him) that he reads without spectacles, 
feels well, sleeps well, and writes well; and in which he says he 
would be glad to be here on this occasion, and will always feel 
proud of his native place, but never expects to go far from home 
again. He is still living in his 90th year at Wiscoj', N. Y. When 
I saw him last, nearly twenty years ago, so like he was that I almost 
thought I saw his father's ghost revisiting "the glimpses of the 
moon." There are some younger representatives still living: Sam- 
uel J. Todd, Esq., a son of Daniel of Preble, N. Y., is a distin- 
guished lawyer of Beloit, Wisconsin. 

The Annans, descendants of the Eev. David Annan, whose 
father, Robert (and his eldest son John), held lands of the Earl of 
Leven at Cei-es near Cupar of Fife, Scotland, have not continued 
here within the last half century, but they are still numerous in 
other places. His sons, John and Robert, and Robert's son John, 
and John's sons Robert G. and David L., were master-machinists 
at Franklin, Lowell, Manchester and Lawrence. William Henry 
Annan, a son of John, (now of Boston) was a roving sailor in his 
younger days, but came lioine to join the navy in the late war, 
and his brother, Capt. Frank Annan, served in the army. Two 
sons of David L. of Lawi'encc are civil engineers at Kansas City, 
the younger (David) being a graduate of Dartmouth College, 
in 1885. 

And now 1 come to the Lunenburgers: there have been many of 
equal and some of still greater note among them. 

And first, the Smiths, descendants of Robert and his two sons, 
John and William, first emigrants, Avho came to this town about 
the year 1751 to 1757. It has been a notable family in this and 
other states, for the most part enterprising' men and leading citi- 
zens, whether as farmers, manufacturers, merchants, magistrates, 
or professional men, supporters of schools, churches, private inter- 
ests and the public good. John, the elder brother (who married 
Mary Harkness of Lunenburg), liad a large farm on the west side 
of the Contoocook, where he died in 1801, at the ageof 8G; she 
died in 1822 at 87. I remember seeing her but a year or two 
before her death, sitting in the corner at the Smith mansion 
(where Mr. Ellsworth now lives), quietly smoking her pipe. Of 
their five sons, I can only mention that Robert studied medicine, 
and practised at Bristol, Vt., and that William succeeded to the 
farm where he lived nearly all his life, a respectable farmer and 
worthy man, and died at the age of 90. Of the eight daughters, I 
will only take time to say that Elizabeth married John White of 
the "Wiiitc Place," the father of the late Robert White, Sarah mar- 



46 

ricd first tlic Kcv. David Annan, and second, Jolin Todd, Senior, 
Mar<>farct married Thomas Flctclier of New Ipswich, and Nancy, 
lier first cousin, Dca. Jonathan Smith. Of William's sons, John 
and Dexter sell led in Mi(;liiu;an, and James, the yoiinyest, a grad- 
uate of Yale College in 1840, b('<4an to practise law in New Or- 
leans, and died much lamented in 1847, a young" man full of learn- 
iii<r, of zealous ambition and flattering liopes, thus early cut off by 
an insidious lung disease. 

Among tlie descendants of AYilliam and Elizabeth (Morison) 
Smith, himself a chief man and magistrate of the earlier time, 
whose largo farm was situated on the plateau to the east of the 
Contoocook valley, there were numerous and able representatives 
on whom it will be unnecessary for me to dwell, since the partic- 
ular history of Dr. Albert Smith, his grandson, has given a full 
and excellent account of them, Of Dr. Albert Smith himself, 
(who died in 1878 in his 77th year), I scarcely need add, that he 
was a son of the Hon. Samuel Smith and a graduate of Dartmouth 
College in 1825, M. D. in IS:];), and LL. D. in 1870, and practised 
medicine in this town nearly all his life, being also a distinguished 
medical professor at Dartmouth, and was a good citizen in every 
way, to whom we are all much indebted for his valuable ''History 
of the Town of Peterborough." 

One earlier offshoot of this original stem, it would be inexcusa- 
ble in me to pass over in silence, though a man so illustrious as to 
bo presumably well enough known to all here present, the Hon, 
Jeremiah Smith. Nor could I add much to the well wi'ifteu life of 
him by the Rev. Dr. Morison, who knew all about him; but I may 
say that besides being an influential member of congress in the 
administration of Washington, and chief justice and governor of 
the State, he was a man of superior mind and genius, a good classi- 
cal scholar, a learned jurist, and an honorable citizen. In his later 
years he was a trustee and treasurer of Phillips Exeter Academy, 
and his poi'trait now hangs in the academic hall there among the 
worthies of that institution. I remember seeing himself there 
(when I was a student), a rather tall jx'rson of genial pres- 
ence, Avith his large library around him, his hair as white (and his 
conscience no doubt as pure) as the driven snow, and there was a 
certain humorous twinkle in his clear gray eye, an hereditary spar- 
kle (I imagine) of the wit and humor of the Scotch-Irish race from 
which he sprung. Said Daniel Webster, ''when Jeiemiali Smith 
became chief justice, it was a day of the gladsome light of juris- 
prudence." Again, Mr. Webster said that "he was perhaps the 
best talker" he had been acquainted with, "full of knowledge of 
books and men, had a great deal of wit and humor, and abhorred 
silence as an intolerable state of existence." But one son survived 
him, the Hon. Jeren)iah Smith of Dover, a worthy representative 



47 

of his ancestral line, also distiiigiiished for his learning' and ability 
as a justice of the supreme court of New Hampshire. 

James and William II. Smith, sons ol: John Smith, Esq., of this 
town, and grandsons of the elder William, Avere prosperous mer- 
chants at St. Louis. James Smith gave over a quarter of a million 
dollars to the benefit of AVashingtau University at St. Louis, and 
made a libei'al donation to the library of his native town. William 
Eliot Smith, son of William IL, and for some years a schol- 
arly horticulturalist, is now proprietor of an extensive "Glass 
Works," at Alton, 111.; and his excellent father is still active and 
alert at over 80l years of age, and his mother is still living and 
bright also, the only surviving- child of the Hon. Samuel Smith. 

The family of Hugh Wilson, an influential first settler, disap- 
peared from this town at an early date. The other AVilsons were 
descendents of that ]Major llobcrt AVilson who stood on the Heights 
of Abraham under Gen. AVolfe in 1759, and marched those GOO Hes- 
sians from Bennington to Boston in 1777. He was a stout and val- 
iant man, over six feet in height, industrious and prudent in busi- 
ness affairs, and acquired considerable property. Madam AVilson 
seems to have been a woman worthy of such a husband; she spun 
the linens and made the butter that helped to send her son James 
through Harvard College to become one of the most eminent law- 
j'ers in the State, and her son John also to become another in the 
State of Maine. Gen. James AVilson of Keene, son of James, 
was an eloquent advocate and public orator, an active and useful 
man, and a brilliant Major General of militia. He made an in- 
teresting speech at the last centennial here, and died in 1881 at the 
age of 84. His greatest oratorical effort, perhaps, was that deliv- 
ered at Keene, in 1861, to arouse his fellow citizens to the duty of 
saving the national government from destruction. But few of the 
name remain in this town, but there are other representatives still 
living, and especially on the female side of the house, where they 
still exhibit much of the character and genius of their ancestors. 

The Stuarts, descended from that AAllliam Stuart who was 
the first man buried on the hill, were a numerous and respectable 
family in the earlier times. None of the name now reside here, 
though there are representatives elsewhere and in other names. 
The family of Charles Stuart, a son of AV^illiam, was connected 
with the Fergusons, Moorcs, Carters, Evanses, and Turners. 
There were three eminent laAvyers of the name: (Charles Jesse of 
Lancaster, John of Groton, Mass., and Charles of New York City, 
a son of John and a graduate of Harvard College in 1830. A 
daughter of Charles J. Stuart lives in Cambridge, the wife of Prof. 
Francis Bowen of Harvard University. Sarah Stuart (a daughter 
of John), the late Mrs. Berry of Washington, D. C, was a lady of 
marked character, genius, and romantic adventure in her day. The 
"Charles Stuart Place'' embraced the present farms of M. L. Mor- 



48 

•rison and John O. Nay, which are still productive, and the large 
square mansion of the Stuarts (in the hands of Mr. Morrison), 
looks brighter than in the olden time. 

Of the ScoTTS there were two branches : one descended from that 
William Scott, Senior, who was one of the earliest pioneers; the 
other from Alexander Scott and his son, the famous Major William, 
who settled here in 1749. Of the first line were the late John 
Scott of Detroit, and his brother, the late James Scott of this town, 
who was an able man, and held high civil positions, political and 
financial, and was so well known among you that I need say no 
more that he was, as also the other, a worthy representative of 
this substantial portion of the Scott family. His widow and 
dauoiiter are living representatives also of that notable family of 
Wilsons. In the other branch, descendants from that Alexander 
Scott who had charge of the powder, lead and flints of the early 
settlers, I have already alluded to the military characters, but 
scarcely less I'cmarkable for wisdom and prudence in civil affairs 
and business were tlie Hon. John Scott and his son William, and 
his sons, tiie late Hon. Albert S. Scott, Kendall, Charles, Henry, and 
John of the "Peterborough Transcript." 

There were two branches of the Whites, also, both descendants 
of the first emigrant, John AVhite : one was that of his son Pat- 
rick, born in Ireland in 1710, an educated man who brought some 
property with him, and was the ancestor of the eastern (or Pond) 
Whites. Three of his sons, John, William, and David, were sol- 
diers in the revolution ; their descendants, besides being substan- 
tial farmers and worthy citizens, have furnished the town with 
martial music and martial men down to this day. John White, the 
brother of Patrick, was born in Lunenburg, was the grandfather 
of the late Robert White, and began the "AVhite Place" so called, 
Avherc Mr. N. II. Morison now resides. Joseph Addison Wiiite, a 
son of Robert, and a graduate of Harvard College in 1840, was a 
.teacher in Pennsylvania, and died young; but three of his sisters 
have intelligent and prosperous families of the names of SpofTord 
.and Cunningham at Rockford, 111. 

The Ror.Bics, who were noted Indian fighters in the earlier days, 
:and ])atriots in the revolution, have been respectable farmers and 
good citizens to this day. Samuel Robbe, who was at Saratoga 
in 1777, and married a daughter of the famous Major William 
Scott, is still well represented by his son, Mr. Stephen D. Robbe, 
on the old homestead of his ancestor; but the old one story house 
of the first century has given place to an elegant mansion of two 
stories in this first half of the second; and there are other repre- 
sentatives of this quite numerous family either at home here 
or abroad. 

The names Alld, Cunningham, Ferguson, Gordon, and Swan 
have disappeared from the town lists, but scions of the stock, and 



49 

and some of the name still survive both here and in other places. 
Mr. James Swan of Illinois is here to-day. The famous Capt. Sam- 
uel Cunningham is still represented by the families of Samuel, 
Newton, and Franklin Cunningham of Rockford, 111., and by his 
granddaughters, Mrs. Augustus Fuller and Miss Catherine Miller 
Caldwell of this town, and by others in Massachusetts, and in Bel- 
fast, Me., which was founded by a company from Londonderry. 

Of the Nays, descended from Dea. William McNee, one of the 
earliest pioneers, there have been eight or nine generations of in- 
fluential citizens. If they are not so very numerous here now, it 
is certain that Dr. Smith reckoned up 1114 of them, not long ago, 
and I fear it would "dizzy the arithmetic of memory" if I were to 
undertake to count them all at this time, here and elsewhere, and 
especially if I were to include both sides of the house, but I may 
just mention Mr. Marshall Nay, son of Major Samuel, Josiah, son 
of AVilliam, and John O., son of George, not omitting his intelli- 
gent wife Caroline, daughter of Samuel McCoy, who still lives in the 
village, hale and hearty at 77, a grandson of that Gilbert of Sharon 
who came directly from old Scotland. 

If but few of the respectable family of Littles still subsist here 
in their proper name, they are certainly numerous in the progeny 
of Mr. Jesse C. Little, an Elder in the kingdom of Salt Lake. 

The Rev. Elijah Dunbar (who was of Scotch descent) has liv- 
ing representatives in the families of some of his sons and daugh- 
ters, one of them, the blind poet Henry, who wrote a hymn for 
the last centennial ; and the old Dunbar place is owned by one of 
them. Rev. Mr. Dunbar (who died at Milford in 1850, at the age 
of 77) was present at the last centennial; and his toast, "To the 
citizen soldiery," was characteristic of his race, suggesting that if 
a man had no sword when his country called, he should "sell his 
coat, and buy one." 

The families of English Puritan descent have been increasing 
in proportion down to this time. There have been many able and 
worthy men among them ; they have taken a full share in all the 
interests of the town, furnished their due quota to the civil aud 
military service and the learned professions, and added to the roll 
of fame at home and abroad. In the various interweavings of all 
stocks and threads into one communitj^, they have come to exei*- 
cise at this day a controlling power and influence upon the credit 
and prosperity of the growing town. Here I can but briefly al- 
lude to some few of them: — 

And first the Hadleys, farmers and brickmakers for several 
successive generations from that early settler, Ebcnezer Hadley, 
who stood with his father and brother (Samuel who fell) on Lex- 
ington Common that day when the British first fired on American 
liberty, have been good men aud useful citizens down to the pres- 



50 

cut Isaac and AVilliam, who still occupy the liomcsteads of their 
ancestors, though the brlckniaking- has nearly ccaspd. 

And also the Diamonds, descended from that patiuotic drummer, 
Wm. Diamond, who druuimed the martial music all the way from 
Lexington to the end of the revolution, some of whom still occupy 
the homestead of their ancestor. 

Then the Fields, farmers, tanners, and Christian men, from 
that John Field and his two sons, AV^illiam and Dea. John, who 
came from tlie old Puritan town of Braintree in 17SG, and have 
been respectable citizens down to the late John Field, the wealthy 
leather merchant of Boston, always a substantial promoter of pri- 
vate morals and the public good, and a liberal benefactor of his 
native place; and I may add his son, Dr. Henrj'^ M. Field of 
Newton, and Dr. David Youngman of Boston, a worthy scion of 
the same stock, and also the sons of William Field, Alexander H. 
of Kansas, Albert of Newmarket, Henry, and Franklin who re- 
sides on the homestead of their ancestor. 

And the Thayers, also, who bring" their lineage from tlie Pil- 
grim John Alden, beginning- here with tiiat Dea. Christopher 
Thayer, who was "out in the French war of 1757 at sixteen," 
and served in the revolution ; a inimerous family that whether 
here or in other places has produced many useful nuni, several 
college graduates, who were journalists and writers of distinction, 
down to Prof. James Bradley Tliayer of tlie law school of Harvard 
University. 

The Edeses of English descent, dating liere from that Sam- 
uel Edes who was at Lexington, "drove the oxen at Bunker 
Hill,'' and was the founder of a large and respectable family, 
have produced sev(n"al farmers, some teacliers, one eminent phy- 
sician (Dr. Hiram J. of Iowa), two distinguished lawyers (Amasa 
and liis son Samuel II. of Newi)ort), down to the late Isaac Edes 
(who occupied the old homestead) and Samuel, the third, lately a 
prosperous tin and stove mauufactui'er and rei)resentativ(^ of this 
town; and I need not omit his intelligent daughter Maria, relict 
of the late Rev. Sanuiel Abbot Smith of Arlington, Mass., of whose 
three sons, one (Abbot Edes Smith) graduated at Harvard College 
in 1877, and is now a lawyer in Chicago; another (George A.) 
is a practical chemist, and the other (Samuel IT.) is a promising 
young lawyer in Boston. 

The Barhers were descended from Silas Barber who came to this 
town in 1780, and lived to the age of 96, whose; sightly brick 
homestead is now occupied by his grandson, Gilbert; and if the 
large old mansion of his son John on Windy Row has dwindled to 
one story, and the three or four large barns are nearly gone to 
ruin on the thin rocky soil, its people still live and flourish in Kan- 
sas, and in the vilhig'c here, at least on one side of the house of 
Riley B. Hatch, Esq. ; and the niiighboring farm, once of Samuel 



51 

and Betsey (Stuart) Turner, probably the tallest couple ever seen 
here, would now (I think) be called a new forest, were it not that 
a certain Mr. Ilayward from Hancock had conceived the idea of 
heading- oft' the bush by planting- orchards, — as it were, lighting- the 
devil with fire, — for it seems that apple trees will grow where any 
other can. But the Turners are not yet Avholly extinct, as we may 
see ill Mrs. Converse and Mrs. Goodhue, and in those live young 
men, Charles and Samuel W. Nichols. 

And then tlie WiirrxEMOUKS, beginning- with that Nathaniel 
Whittemore, a soldier of the revolution, Avho came to this town in 
1781, draw their line of descent through Thomas of Charles- 
ton, Mass., (1641) all the way from the M'liite-meres of Ilitchin, 
Hertford Co., England. Three of his sons, Nathaniel, Jr., James 
and Bernard, Avere at times merchants in Boston, and they are 
numerously represented in this and other States, — in tlie law by 
Bernard B. of Nashua, Joseph of Detroit, and Nathaniel, Jr., of 
Bay City, Mich., in medicine by Dr. Israel T. Hunt of Boston, 
in the hotel business by Mr. J. B. McGilvray of the Maplewood and 
San Marco, and in the cotton manufacture by John Farwell, sou 
of the late Nathaniel Whittemore Farwell of Boston. The old 
farm has nearly gone to forest again; but in a small open space 
(a little off the modern road) on a rising knoll where the grass is 
still green, there stand two magnificent old elms to mark the site 
of the vanished tavern house of their ancestor. 

Among the Jewetts, descendants of John Jewett, who came to 
this town from Westford, Mass., in 1797, there have been several 
notable residents and some worthy re])resentatives abroad. His 
eldest son, John, Avas a wealthy and honorable merchant of New 
York City, and died there in 1867, at the age of 81. Another son, 
Ahimaz, married Eliza, a daughter of the Hon. John Scott, and 
lived and died in this town. Of their children were the Avell 
known citizens, Charles, and the late Dea. George A. JeAvett of the 
Union Evangelical Church, described as "a good man and a Chris- 
tian," and Eiizal)eth (Mrs. AVm. B. Hale) and her son, the distin- 
guished scholar, Prof. AVm. G. Hale of Cornell UniA'ersity, a grad- 
uate of Harvard College in 1870. The elder John's second Avife 
Avas Margaret, daughter of Dea. Samuel Moore, and their daugh- 
ter Elizabeth (widow of the late Ira Felt) still resides in tlie village 
here in full possession of her faculties at the great age of S(). Her 
father died at nearly 85, and her mother at the age of 8.). They 
lived, in their latter days, on Avhat is now known as the "Frost 
Place," then owned by their eldest son, John of New York. This 
eligible place has had a rather noticeable history. It Avas origi- 
nally the farm of Charles and Abigail (Evans) Davidson. The 
old red house on the north side of the road (in wiiich Ahimaz Jew- 
ett once lived for a time) has long since disai)peared. The better 
modern residence on the s )uth side of the road Avas built (I think) 



52 

before the farm was sold by Charles Davidson and wife to Na- 
thaniel Holmes, Jr., in 1815; and it passed from him to Bernard 
Whittemore, from him to Nathaniel AVhittemore, Jr., from him to 
David F. McGilvray, from him to John Jewett, and from him to 
Cyrus Frost, who came from Dublin, and is now owned by his 
sou, Charles Albert; — an instance of the many farms that have not 
only changed owners, but have passed from one family to an- 
other.i 

The Evanses, beginning here wilh Asa Evans who came from 
Leominster, Mass., in 1784, were an influential family in the first 
century. He was a large farmer and a trader, selectman and keeper 
of the tavern of that day in the village. Many ' representatives 
survive in other names, if not in that of Evans, both in this town 
and in other places. 

James Walker, Esq., who was a native of Rindge and a grad- 
uate of Dartmouth College, came to this town in 1814, and prac- 
tised law here the rest of his life, and was a man of ability and in- 
tegrity in the profession. His son, the late Geoi-ge Walker, Esq., 
also a graduate of Dartmouth College, and of the Harvard Law 
School, was an eminent lawyer of Springfield, Mass., and a politi- 
cal economist of some note, an agent abroad of the U. S. Treas- 
ury, in 18G5, and in his later years Consul General to Paris. 

Judge William Penniman, a son of Adam Penniman of this 
town, was a distinguished public man of Orleans County, N. Y., 
and died there in 1872, at the age of 79. 

Thomas Payson, a graduate of Harvard ('oUege in 1784, and an 
eminent teacher for most of his life, resided in this town in his 
later years, and of his large family there were some prosperous 
merchants, and several daughters who were well educated teach- 
ers. Miss Putnam of Boston, a relative of the family and some- 
time resident here, will be remembered for her amiable social 
qualities and her generous gift of "Putnam Grove" to the public- 
use as a park. 

Dr. John Mussey, who came to this toAvn in 1800, was a prom- 
inent physician and a Presbyterian of the straitest sect. He is 
said to have told a curious witch story that happened to his 
horse, but with some of Macbeth's misgivings, perhaps, as to the 
"metaphysical aid." The name has disappeared from the town 
lists, but his son. Dr. Reuben D. Mussey of Dartmouth College. 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and Boston, and his sons, Drs. William H. and 
Francis B. Mussey of Ohio, wex'c very eminent physicians, sur- 
geons, and medical professors. 

Dr. Kendall Bruce, who came to this town in 1812, is still 
represented here by his grandsons George and Charles F., sons of 
Peter Bruce ; and one son of Charles F. is a physician and another 
a clergyman in Massachusetts. 

(i) Recently sold again to Prof. Wm. Caldwetl, adescendant of Capt. Samuel Cunningham. 



53 

Dr. John Young, who came to this town in 1764, was the most 
skillful physician the town had nntil his death in 1807. His 
charges had to be low in those days and he died poor, partly 
owing- perhaps to his intemperate habits. At last the town voted 
"to take his worldly circumstances into consideration and gave 
him the use of two cows." His daughter. Miss Jane Young-, a 
rather memorable person, lived here all her life in her own small 
house, dying in 1857 at the age of 84 ; and her maltese cat and 
her garden flowers did not long survive. 

Another remarkable lady was Miss Fanny Smith, a daughter of 
Dea. Robert Smith and a half-sister of Dr. Jesse Smith, the dis- 
tinguished surgeon of Cincinnati, Ohio. Like Miss Young she 
lived by herself in her own home, was a gi-eat reader, a pious 
Sunday-school teacher, full of talent but somewhat eccentric, and 
such an ardent lover of freedom that when she died in 1858, at 78, 
she dedicated one side of her gravestone "To the Cause of Eman- 
cipation: may God prosper it, and all the people say, Amen." 

The Carters came from Leominster, Mass., and were a family 
of considerable note in this town. David and Oliver Carter, sons 
of Oliver and Jenny (Stuart) Carter of "Carter's Corner," were 
enterprising- merchants in Boston. It is said that David Carter 
carried the first gold (2000 ounces) from the California mines to 
the Philadelphia mint. Milton and Henry Carter will not soon be 
forg-otten by the lovers of music, sacred or profane. 

The Ameses, descendants of Timothy Ames, who came from 
Andover, Mass., in 1793, have been an important family for sever- 
al generations. His son, Timothy K. Ames, was, in the course of 
his long and useful life, a kind of patriarch, deputy sheriff, and 
auctioneer for the whole country around, moderator, selectman. 
Justice of the Peace, and representative, and always an active sup- 
porter of town, school, and church. The soldier's monument re- 
cords the memory of his grandson, Lieut. Timothy K. Ames, son 
of T. Parsons Ames, and a young- lawyer of promise, among the 
heroes of Peterboi'ough who fell in the late war. 

The Ameses and the Carters for several generations furnished 
the young people with music and dancing of a superior quality. 
Most of them were tall men of graceful manners and nimble limbs, 
and could cut a pigeon-wing with the best of them. It was said 
of the elder Timothy that he played the violin so lieartily and 
well that it made no difference whether he were asleep or awake. 
The young people, I said, not meaning to exclude all the older 
folks ; for the story is told that Dea. Holmes who stood six feet in 
height and weighed over 300, and Mrs. Upton who did not weigh less 
than 200, could dance "Fisher's Hornpipe" to the green-bag fiddle 
of that notorious African that bought his freedom from Dea. Sam- 
uel Moore, and forgot to pay for it, the unforgetable "old Baker." 

The Uptons were a stalwart set of men. Thomas Upton could 



54 

lay more rods of stone wall in a day than any other man, Jacob 
Upton was a yiant ov^er six feet hi<;li and a <>reat mower. He 
carried a wider swath than any otlier man could. He took not 
less than a full tumbler of New England rum at each drink, and 
then his scythe would go through the grass as if there were a two- 
horse power behind it. At this day (as I am told) Mr. William 
Moore's little girl rides on the mowing machine, and Avill cut two 
acres to Jacob's one any day, and never drink a drop. How many 
of them remain here I cannot tell, but some of tliem still flourish in 
other places, and I have heard of one (Mr. Eli Upton, sou of Eli, 
the miller) whom I knew as a boy, and whose father was not rich, 
that he had become a wealthy farmer and stock raiser in western 
Illinois, with something like a tliousand acres of land. 

Many others of whom I could say much I must pass over; but 
I cannot omit the late Col. WnrrcoMU Fiiench from Dublin, Avhose 
active life began in the era of mail-stages, nor his enterprising suc- 
cessor, Mr. Hknry K. Fkench of the newer era of railroads, who 
built up tlie best hotel in Peterborough (now of Mr. Tucker), and 
are not to be forgotten among the benefactors of the town ; nor in- 
deed that other railroad man, Mr. Bknjamix P. Chenky, who was 
well known here in the day of stage-coaches, and who, tliough not 
a native nor exactly a resident, seems now bent on restoring the 
old homestead of the Wilsons to greater magnificence than it ever 
knew before. John Farnum drove the heavy teams to Boston, 
until railroads came; his son Joseph learned the printer's trade in 
the ofRoe of the "Peterborough Transcript," of which he is now 
the senior editor and joint proprietor. 

Among the later comers, too numerous to mention, wen* tliose 
other Cheneys, sons of Moses Cheney who came from Holder- 
ness, in 1835, to engage in papei'-making witii his brother-in-laAV 
A.P.Morrison; — the liev. Dr. Oren B. Cheney, a graduate of 
Dartmouth College in 183!), a Baptist clergyman and President of 
Bates College at Lewiston, Me. ; Cliarles G. Cheney, a graduiite of 
Dartmouth in 1845, and a well-known lawyer of this town, Avho 
died a young man; Elias H. Cheney, a journalist and editor; and 
Person Colby Cheney, an active paper-maker, for many years a 
highly respected citizen here, and more recently of Manchester, 
who was a quartermaster in tlie late war, and has since been a 
popular governor of tlie State and a United States Senator; of 
whose merits, oiterprise, and great personal worth, tliere is no 
need that I should speak further in this place. 

Nor must I fail to mention his accomplished lady, a slip of that 
persistent White stock already alluded to; for the ladies are not 
to be altogether overlooked. They have, in all times, borne their 
share of the duties and burdens of society, and they are entitled 
to a full share of the honors of this occasion. AVhether they spin 
as of old, or dress in silks without work, or are the comforters 



55 

and helpers of those who do work, and fight, and govern the 
country, or are the educators of those that shall coinc after us, or 
are to be poets, novelists, editors, clerks, doctors, lawyers or 
divines, it nevertheless remains true for all time that the finer 
sensibilities, the native virtues, veiled proprieties and deep-gianc- 
ing wise advice of the other sex, do lie at the very heart and life 
of all humanity. Said a great Englisli Lord Chancellor, "The 
duke is tlie strength, the duchess the ornament of the house." 

Thus we see how the abilities, character and genius of the fore- 
fathers, whether in the family or in the whole comnumity of fam- 
ilies, are sure to come about in the longer or shorter circuit and 
perpetual round of all the trades, callings and professions, and of 
all the more brilliant careers, civil or military, private or public; 
and the whole body politic continues to whirl itself onward and 
upward, or be whirled by the higher powers, its head high in the 
air serene and its feet surely and safely travelling along the 
ground. 

Looking over the whole half century, we may notice many 
changes for better or worse, but mostly for the better. Not 
much more than fifty years ago, Daniel Gibbs and his one-horse 
mail-wagon gave place to lines of mail-stages, and weekly teams 
did the freighting business to Boston. The larger farmers still 
loaded up a big sleigh or sled in winter with purl: and other prod- 
uce, and drove it down to Boston, returning with supplies of 
groceries. When I went to St. Louis, in 1839, I traveled all the 
way by stage, canal, and steamboat, and the first letters received 
from home cost me twenty five cents postage. Now, railroad 
trains carry mails, passengers and freight, twice a day, and letter- 
postage is two cents to any part of the country; and. if you like, 
you can go by railroad almost to the ends of the earth. The 
morning newspaper and the telegraph bring the daily ucavs, or 
hourly messages, from the uttermost parts of the civilized world, 
and the telephone promises soon to enable you to talk with Boston, 
New York, or Washington, at your leisure. The electric light, 
and the electric rail-car, if not already here, are perhaps not very 
far off". There were no men here in the first century that would 
now be called rich : there are some richer men here now I suppose, 
but no millionaire (I think) has grown up in this town, though in 
these days the mania for getting enormously rich seems to be 
turning the whole world upside down. 

The village evidently grows in luimbers and extciil, there is a 
greater variety of manufactures and trades, and four times as 
many shops and stores. Business is more lively, and Mealth and 
comfort plainly increase. The place looks better than it did fifty 
years ago. New streets have been built up, and the old ones im- 
proved; finer houses have been erected, and the older ones put in 
better order; unkempt yards now show green lawns Avith flowers; 



66 

and tall trees shade the streets. The public buildings are larger 
and better, tlie great factories look more inviting, the schools 
grow higher, the libraries swell in volume, and churches multiply. 
If society, if morals, if religion, is not better, it is more genial, 
free, and general, the humanities are more regarded, the charities 
more thought of, and with all other blessings (it is. to be hoped) 
there comes increase of wisdom in the sight of the Most High. 

If population does not expand within, emigration expands with- 
out. New Hampshire (as Daniel Webster said in his day) is "a 
good state to emigrate from." If the rougher hill farms go to for- 
est seed again, the young farmers, with vigorous wing, fly over 
the ridges into the richer western plains; or they slip down into 
the lower villages to add fresh activity to the growing enter- 
prise and ingenuity of the place ; or they rush abroad into the 
great cities to reinforce the commerce, the intellect, the character, 
and the genius of the whole country. 

The smooth I'ouud hills and rolling plateaus and well watered 
valleys remain fresh and green as in the earlier times. If here 
and tliere an old farm house goes to decay, new and better ones 
are built instead ; the dark weather beaten dwellings that in the 
first century never saw paint have nearly everywhere put on a 
new trim of bright colors. Sons and daughters return from the 
wider fields and centres of wealth and prosperity to remodel and 
embellish the old mansions of their ancestors into elegant summer 
residences, adding life to the local business, and giving tone the 
higher social culture. The varied and beautiful scenery of the 
whole mountain-rimmed basin aftbrds ever new attraction to the 
stranger, and charms and delights the native resident. The Grand 
Monadnoc, as at the first day, towers sublime into the clear blue 
sky, as it were in sen)piternal majesty looking down, silently, 
graciously, upon the smiling scenes below : — 

"In his own loom's garment dressed, 
By Ills proper bounty blessed, 
Fast abides this constant giver, 
Pouring mai)y a clieerftil river; 
To far eyes, an ai-rial isle 
Unploiiglied, which finer spirits pile, 
VViiich morn and crimson evening paint, 
For bard, for lover, and for saint; 
The people's pride, the country's core, 
Inspirer, prophet, evermore." 



67 

POEM 
By Prof. N. H. Morison, of Baltimore, Md. 



Bead by liev. J. II. Morison, D. D. 



Full fifty years of life and toil 

Have filled their circles free, 
Since our good town rejoicing 

Held its first gTeat jubilee. 

Midst joys and sorrows fitly borne, 

And hurryings to and fro, 
What changes, kind or sad, have come, 

Since fifty years ago? 

Still Grand Monadnock guards the west, 

With all its ancient pride ; 
And fair Contoocook to the sea 

Still rolls its joyous tide. 

The Pack-Monadnocks clothe the morn, 

In radiant beauty still ; 
And Nubanusit's toiling wave 

Still turns the busy mill. 

The fields are still as white with corn, 

The dancing bi'ooks as bold, 
And autumn's tints as Avarm and bright, 

As in the days of old. 

The bills and dales, the streams and woods, 

The mountain's evening glow, 
Are all as glad and beautiful. 

As fifty years ago. 

The magic charms of nature stay, 

But men will come and go ; 
And many a household fire has died. 

Since fifty years ago. 

The ancient mansion still is seen 

Beneath its sheltering tree ; 
But where the youths and maidens fair 

That filled these homes with glee? 

Alas ! their names have vanished quite ; 

Their home another fills ; 
And fields the fathers won with toil 

The heedless stranger tills. 

Gone is the mother's toiling care; 

Gone arc the sons she bore ; 
And gou) the race from which they sprung ;- 

Their place is here no more. 



58 

Some sought the city's busy mart; 

Some trod the western wild, 
Where one high place in power attained. 

The nation's honored child ; 

And one a princely fortune g'ained, 

But laid his treasures down 
In generous gifts to learning made, 

And to his native town. 

Some sought the placer's golden hoard. 
Some nurse the luscious vine ; 

Some plant the scented orange grove : 
Some delve the teeming mine. 

O'er prairies broad and mountains bare 
Their homes are scattered wide, 

From cold Alaska's snowy peaks 
To Tampa's seething tide. 

We watch with fond parental pride 
These children's g'rowing powers. 

And, with the honors they have won, 
We claim them still as ours. 

New faces throng- our village streets ; 

New manners too appear ; 
And, in the council of the town, 

New voices now we hear. 

And yet no discord mars the sound, 

No jealousy the view ; 
For social ties have made as one 

Our townsmen, old and new. 

The old traditions are preserved ; 

The fathers still revered ; 
Their traits, stamped deep upon the tow n. 

Have never disappeared. 

We see their manly energf}- ; 

We see their courage bold ; 
We see their scorn of meanness vile, 

As in the days of old. 

We see their homely eloquence ; 

Their biting- wit and fi-own, 
To pull i)r('tentious ignorance 

And prating- folly down. 

We see their teasing mirthfulness. 

That friend nor foe will spare ; 
Fun that tlie eyes alone express; 

Their love of play that's fair. 



59 

All honor to the fathers then, 
Who built this ship of state ; 

And honor to their worthy sons, 
Whose labors made it great. 



And honor to the citizens 

Of this, our later day, 
Whose hands the rudder firmly grasp, 

To guide it on its way. 



And so, when fifty years again 
Have told their circuits round. 

The ship shall still be sailing on, 
With every timber sound. 



In j'^outh's fair morn, when life was new, 

And patriot feeling strong, 
I made for friends that loved and cheered 

My earlier festal song. 

And now, when age its frosts has spread, 
And fi'iends have passed away, 

I lay this wreath of grateful verse 
Upon their tombs to-day. 

My task is done, but feelings strong 

Within my bosom swell, 
As, to these scenes of youth and joy, 

I bid a last farewell. 



Farewell, ye hills so fondly loved ; 

Ye waters, dai'k and bright ; 
Farewell, ye fields where oft I've roved; 

My native town, good night. 



Benediction by Eev. J. H. Hoffman. 

During the intermission for dinner the band gave a fine concert 
from the band stand in Phoenix park, rendering the following se- 
selections: 

March, . . "On the Right." I W^altz, '*Fairy." 

OvKKTURE, . . . '^Le Claire." Medley. ''Wake uj) (labriel." 



60 

Afternoon. 
At two o'clock promptly, the vast audience which had again as- 
sembled in the Town Hall was called to order by the President, in 
the following manner: 

Fellow Citizens: — The formal exercises of this occasion, as ar- 
ranged by the Executive Committee, have been concluded, and 
what to all of us partake of a more social greeting, are now to be 
held. In this afternoon gathering, I have summoned to my assist- 
ance my fellow townsman — one who like myself is native of the 
soil, and who has known no other home than this ; one identified as 
a leader in the political, military and material interests which 
mark the progress we have developed in the last fifty years — who 
has presided in more deliberative assemblies than any citizen now 
living, and a long time custodian of the peace and dignity of the 
State. I have the pleasure of introducing Col. Charles Scott. 

Mr. President : — I thank you for the very flattering introduction 
you have given me, and did I suppose you had called me here for 
the purpose of making a speech, I must be dull indeed did I not 
find suflScient in your presentation to claim my attention. It is 
true that I am a native of this good old town, and have ever made 
it my home; that I have found here among these grand old hills a 
suflicient field in which to exercise Avhat little of ability I possess, 
and have been deeply interested in the welfare of this my native 
town, have aided in its deliberations and sought to increase its 
growth and general prosperity, and to assist in maintaining the 
high standard of enterprise and moral worth inaugurated by 
the early settlers and fathers. How far we have been successful 
in our eflForts let those to whom we bequeath the legacy given to us, 
answer. It is also true, Mr. President, that ever since a boy I have 
been interested in and connected with some military organization. 
Peterborough has ever been famous for the martial and patriotic 
spirit of her citizens. In the early history of the town, during the 
French and Indian wars, from the years 1755 to 17G0, with a popu- 
lation of only about 400 people, she gave thirty of her best men to 
drive back the invaders, the French, and to protect their families 
and homes from the merciless savage. In the war of the revolu- 
tion for independence, when the population of the town numbered 
less than GOO souls, 145 did service for their country, many of 
whom served during the entire seven years of war, and among 
whom were my ancestors. Do you think it strange, Mr. President, 
that with such an ancestry as this that the native sons of old Peter- 
borough should early manifest a patriotic spirit and love of country, 
and pride in the place of their birth? Oh, no; recreant indeed 
would they be did they not manifest a willingness, a desire even, 
to maintain at whatever sacrifice, the glorious legacy so dearly 
purchased. In the later wars of 1812 and 1814 Peterborough took 



61 

no backward steps, but gave to the service of her country, twenty- 
five of her citizens, among them tliat famous son, Gen. James Mil- 
ler, whose military record shone resplendent, and whose reputation 
became as wide as the world. "I'll try sir" were his words, im- 
mortal tvords. How many a student in life, how many a business 
man acting under the inspiration of that motto has bounded on 
from one obstacle to another until he has mastered the situation 
and gained the victory. 

But let us come down a little further in the history of the town. 
What have we been doing in the last fifty years? If, sir, there is 
any one thing of which I boast for Peterborough, it is her record, 
the part she bore in the unfortunate struggle forced upon the coun- 
try in 1861 by those who sought to dishonor our flag and break 
down the government established by our fathers. More than one- 
tenth of our population entered the army for the Union, and did 
valiant service for the country they loved. Many of them never 
returned to enjoy the homes they had helped to save. They were 
my schoolmates in boyhood, my companions and associates in 
business in later years, my comrades in the field, and by me, at 
least, shall never be forgotten. But Mr. President, the time alloted 
to us to be together is limited, and I must not prolong my remarks. 
I see before me many natives and former residents of Peterbo- 
rough whose voices we wish to hear, and to whom the time le- 
gitimately belongs. I will now call upon the Rev. Mr. Hoff^man 
to offer prayer. 

Prayer by Rev. John H. Hoff"man. 
The Chairman : 

And now, having partaken of the bountiful collation in the ban- 
quet hall overhead and listened to solemn prayer, let this vast audi- 
ence all rise, and led by the choir, join in singing old "Peterbo- 
rough" — "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." 

All joined in singing old "Peterborough." 
The Chairman : 

My heart was made glad a few days since in hearing the tones of 
the old Academy Bell as they came floating out upon the breeze 
from its new home in our new school building, having been moved 
from the tower of the old academy, where it had stood sentinel for 
more than half a century. I see present with us to-day one who I 
am sure would recognize the peculiar tones of that bell wherever 
he might hear them ; one who was for more than a quarter of a 
century pastor of one of our leading churches, and intimately con- 
nected with the educational interests of the town, the Rev. George 
Dustan, who will speak to 

"The Schools of Peterborough." 
Mr. President: — My theme is "School Work and its Results for 
fifty years." Having been personally identified with my subject 



62 

for nearly thirty years and deeply interested iu it, I feel somewhat 
prepared to speak upon it. I believe, also, that most of my audi- 
ence will be in full sympathy with me iu to-day's cursory review 
of the school work of the past, since it touches every home, every 
profession, and every business interest here. 

Cradled in this beautiful vallev, and somewhat shut out fi^iui the 
outside world by lofty hills, Peterborough has, nevertheless, been 
making history the past five decades, A\^hether the work has been 
well done will better appear in the future, perhaps, though some 
results may be seen to-day, at the close of a century and a half 
from the first sound of the settler's axe on the hillsides about us, 
and the first smoke of the settler's cabin — a pledge and a promise 
of future harvests of grain on the hillsides and of children in the 
cabins, which pledge and promise have been fulfilled for one hun- 
dred and fifty years. 

I should have been untrue to my judgment and heart as one who 
has ever been interested in the growth and prosperity of this fair 
town in enterprise, morality and education, had I not responded to 
your invitation to be present and enjoy this feast of fat things. 
Though not a son to the manor born, I am something better, per- 
haps. Most of you could not help being born here; but I am a 
son by choice — persistent choice, too, having persevered I became 
son by marrying one of the many fair daughters of your town, 
and father of children who call this their native place. So, with a 
loyalty as true as steel, chastened by the tender and touching mem- 
ories of the past, I should, had I not gathered with the assembled 
tribes here to-day, have proved recreant to the deepest feeling of 
my nature and the warmest sentiments of home and humanity that 
forever live in the breast of the patriot, however sharp be the cli- 
mate or rough the soil of the home to Avhich he has given his best 
thoughts and matui-est energies. 

Recognizing your own love and respect, I may say the peaks of the 
hills around Peterborough are not truer in their pointing heaven- 
ward, and the rivers in these valleys not more certain in their 
course than the flow of my feelings toward you and yours. 

After listening to the interesting address of the morning, and the 
reading of the interesting poem, especially from his lips whose • 
heart is as the heart of tenderness, and whose life interest in this 
town has run as a red silken strand of love through nearly a centu- 
ry of your history, and whose look is forward into the coming sto- 
ry of the years, with the same interest in all that pertains to the 
best good of this people of every sect, politics or name. 

I do not aspire to rhetorical utterance, but in plain and simple 
speech, to tell something of the story of your labors and rewards 
as scholars. Undoubtedly the schools here, as elsewhere have la- 
boi-ed under the disadvantages of poor school houses and incompe- 
tent teachers at times, but I am persuaded their success will com- 



63 

pare favorably with scholars in other towns. We are told by the 
town historian that in 1837 a neat brick building was bnilt on a lot 
presented to the town by Gen. James "Wilson which was to be used 
as an academy, and in that academy have been educated, from the 
days of Principal Hurd to the present time, the most promising 
youths of the last forty years. The teachers in that academj^ gen- 
erally proved very capable. Some of them were possessed of more 
than usual scholarship and ability to impart knowledge. The 
youth of Peterborough have had the opportunity of securing well 
disciplined minds under the care of many efficient teachers, who 
have given instruction in the academy and high school in the past. 
And whatever happens to the building or the grounds, that spot 
will ever live in the memory as a place sacred to friendship and to 
scholarship. Previous to the erection of the academy building, a 
school house of note had been built east of the Main sti-eet bridge, 
two stories high ; the upper part built by subscription and to be 
used as an academy. This building proved serviceable for school 
purposes for several years, until the school house situated on what 
is now the railroad lot was erected — made necessary by the growth 
of the centre district. In 1871 the high school district was estab- 
lished by vote of the town. This school was created none too soon, 
and has answered a need and done a work for education of most 
vital importance. "Within a short time the schools in town have 
been consolidated into one district, to their great advantage. Sev- 
eral school houses have been built, and a commodious and conven- 
ient school house crowns one of the hills of the village, to the joy 
of the inhabitants and the honor of the town. This edifice will 
probably stand for many years — till the two hundredth anniversa- 
ry of the town occurs — a monument to the good judgment of the 
committee of selection, and as a result of many discussions in the 
town hall, wise and otherwise, heated and jocose, but all subsiding 
into good nature. 

It seemed not the wisest thing for all to remain in the home nest, 
and as the eagle pushes her eaglets from the eyrie, that they may 
test the strength and plume their wings for lofty flights, so some 
of your choicest youth have been constrained to go forth to find 
work and win fame in other places. This town has not been float- 
ed up to the level of other towns of like population by extraneous 
force, as a vessel is sometimes lifted by an incoming tide that 
touches all keels alike, but by the force of inherent vigor, through 
culture and mature strength of character. 

Most prominent among those who have contributed to the suc- 
cess of your schools the first part of the century may be mentioned 
Revs. Cutler and Robinson, Dr. Cutter, who was superintending 
school committee many years; Dr. Smith, Mr. Howe, Ex-Gov. 
Steele, the Noones, Adams, Cheneys and Morisons. But perhaps 
no one did more for the welfare of education, as teacher and citi- 



64 

zen, than A. S. Scott, Esq., whose final effoi-ts were crowned by 
the creation of the high school. 

There is a pleasant tradition among older citizens of the snccess 
of the Peterborough lyceum, and I have no doubt the schools de- 
rived very much of benefit from that vigorous institution of which 
our President of the day was a worthy member. 

I wish also to mention as a great assistance to the educational 
work of the town, your valuable town library, which hasgrown under 
the fostering care of Messrs. Pendleton, Jackson, Hatch, Dr. Cut- 
ler, AYalbridge, Chase, and others, to such grand proportions and 
influence; also promoting by large use at the fireside, the acquisi- 
tion of a good amount of practical knowledge. Says one : ''There 
may be epics in men's brains just as there are oaks in acorns, but 
the tree and the book must come out to measure them." The 
earnest and successful men and women here and those who have 
gone forth from you, had the promise of success in the schools 
within the environment of this fair town. 

The weekly paper issued here has also been a most important 
factor in the work of educating the young. This paper has always 
been in sympathy with the best education of the people, and has 
contributed very much to the acquisition of a valuable amount of 
practical knowledge. The editors are to be congratulated on their 
success, and the inhabitants on the pleasure and information afibrd- 
ed them weekly in perusing their village paper. 

With increased numbers of children attending school, increased 
facilities for doing school Avork, increased appropriations for 
school support, better trained and more ctficient teachers, there 
seems no reason why the schools of Peterborough sliould not only 
retain their rank attained in the jjast, but also advance to more 
commanding usefulness and higher success. While but few of the 
young people before me may be looking forward to a professional 
career, yet all who shall improve their op])ortunities in the schools 
to-day may become men and women fitted in scholarship and char- 
acter to occupy any position of trust in the town or state. 

My friends, it has been a privilege and a pleasure to have been 
associated with you in school work here for one-fourth of a cen- 
tury, and to have assisted in any degree in giving direction to the 
thoughts of the young on social and moral questions of the times. 
Of course you cannot get the same results out of all material. 

"You may grind them both in the self-same mill, 
You may bind them heart and brow; 
But the poet will follow the rainbow still. 
And the other will follow the plow." 

And yet in the plan of God they shall each fulfill the purpose de- 
signed, and prove useful in their day and genei-ation. 

Important as may be the material interests of this town I do not 
deem them the ones most demanding attention ; attractive as may 



m 

o 

re 

- o 

^ o 

r 

cd 

G 

r 

D 




65 

be the allurements of gain and honor, I do not deem them the 
highest end of pursuit. Intellectual and moral character are 
more necessary in citizens than fine establishments with impaired 
virtue. I believe j^ou are contributing to the elevation of the com- 
munity by cherisbing your schools and your churches in the inter- 
est of sound learning and high virtue. 

To you the test of loyalty and devotion to country came wlien 
young men here, some of them but just out of school and others 
just entering upon business life, answ.ered the call for soldiers and 
went forth in defense of their country, for which service the\- had 
been in some measure prepared by the discipline of the school room. 
It is said that in the formation of the features of the human face 
our climate and natural scenery give a moulding and shading to 
the general expression of the countenance so that every child born 
in New Hampshire has a peculiar mark, that will show the delicate 
but strong impress of the touch of nature among these hills and 
valleys. 

If so, what scenery anywhere surpasses in commanding and win- 
ning beaut}'^ that which appears mantling and gracing the vast 
basin of forests and farms that lies within the embrace of our hills? 
No scenery was ever better fitted to mould and make rugged and 
strong, manly character, and develope gentle and delicate lines of 
thought and sympathy, than that which gems our valleys and 
crowns our mountains, as to-day, with a coronation of glory. 

It is ray warmest wish that you may so cultivate the brawn, 
brain and heart of your children, that they may be i-ecognized ev- 
erywhere by the infallible characteristics of true men and women : 
in the honor that stamps the brow, the light of intelligence that 
gleams from the eye, and the language of truth and purity that 
flows from the lips as here, or in any part of our land, they shall 
contribute material of stable Avorth, upon which may be built the 
success of a people who are moulding the destinies of states. And 
as we take the hand of one born here, or look into his eye. the grasp 
of the first shall be that of a friend, and the look of the other shall 
bespeak unfaltering trust in truth and God. 

The Chairman : 

I now ask your attention while I read a letter from an absent son 
of the town, and will call upon the Hon. Thomas Moore of Adrian, 
Michigan, a native of old Peterborough, to respond to the senti- 
ment therein contained. 

Boston, October 21, 18<S9. 
Joseph Farxum, Esq., and Othehs, CoMMrrrEE of IxvrrATiON. 
Gentlemen: — When I first learned that Peterborough was to cele- 
brate its 150th anniversary, on the 24th inst., I intended to be pres- 
ent and participate in its exercises and festivities. But circum- 
stances have transpired that will prevent my attendance on that in- 
teresting occasion. 



66 

I rejf ret this exceedingly, as it would give me great pleasure to be 
present, and once more grasp the hands and look into the faces of 
my early friends and acquaintances. 

I Avas born in Peterborough, and spent some of my happiest 
years in that good old town. The remains of my niotlier repose in 
the "old cemetery" on the hillside, near the site of tlie first meet- 
ing house. 

Tlioso liills and valleys, those sandy plains and shady woodlands, 
the old Contoocook and its fertile meadows, are all imprinted in 
my memory. Those old fashioned farm houses and the more mod- 
ern village dwellings, I shall never forget them, nor the dear 
friends who once inhabited them. I often recall the words of Gen. 
James Wilson, in his speech at your centennial celebration, just 
fiftv years ago. Among many other interesting remarks, he said: 

"Forget Peterborough! How can 1 forget her? Why, sir, I 
was born just over there. The bones of my ancestors, paternal 
and maternal, are deposited just over there; and among 
them, there, repose the remains of my mother. Oh! sir, it would 
be cold and heartless ingratitude to forget the place where one's 
best friends slumber in death ! Spare me, Oh ! spare me such a 
reproach." 

I hope and trust that your plans and expectations for the celebra- 
tion of the day will be fully realized, and that the proceedings and 
the various exercises will be enjoyable and satisfactory to all con- 
cerned. 

Allow me in closing to give you the following toast: 

The absent sons and daughters of Peterborough: In all their 
wanderings and sojournings, may they never forget their mother — 
the dear old town of Peterborough. 

I am faithfully and truly yours, 

JDavid Youngman, M. D. 

Response by Hon. Thomas Moore, of Adrian, Mich. 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Citizens of Pe- 
terborough : — It gives me the greatest pleasure of my life to be 
present to-day, and mingle with you, and enjoy the festivities of 
this grand memorial day in honor of the early settlement of this 
town. And in behalf of the absent sons and daughters of Peter- 
borough, whose homes are scattered far and wide ; in the great and 
busy cities of the west ; on its grand and fertile prairies ; on the 
old Pacific's slope ; yes, wherever in this grand country of ours 
there is push and enterprise, there you will find the grand old 
blood of Peterborough. The magnificent pageant of the morning, 
as it passed through your streets representing your numerous in- 
dustries, most surely tell of your prosj^erity, and that Peterborough 
to-day is not by any means on the decline, but in fact was at lio 
l)eriod in its history so prosperous as to-day. Be assured, my 
friends, those absent sons and daughters whose homes are far 
away, could they have witnessed it and mingled with you in this 
festive occasion, would have most truly been proud of the success 
of old Peterborough, the home of their childhood days. 

The old mountains which have so fondly encircled your pleasant 
valley, and stood like the grand old guardians of your homes and 



67 

interests, are there to-day without one moment of relief. They 
seem to have grown old, but they are faithful to duty yet. Your 
hills look barren, and the old rocks even seem to have grown gray, 
but the old Contoocook, with its tributaries, as they haste along to 
the old Merrimac, have given golden opportunities for manufac- 
turing, which has been, and is to-daj^ more than ever in the past, 
the grand success of old New England. 

As we stand here to-day and cast back in memory over the past, 
how great the changes. Those noble men and women, the found- 
ers of the progress we hero see on every hand are gone, but their 
grand w^orth, their unselfish lives, their determined purpose laid the 
noble foundation on which rests to-day a civilization such as the 
world before has never seen. We stand to-day with uncovered 
heads beside their graves. And proud are we to be the sons and 
daughters of such noble parents ; and we can truly say blessed in- 
deed of God are the sons and daughters of Peterborough. We find 
by the records of the town that while the sons of Peterborough 
have been active in the development of the town, they have never 
failed to do their duty in the welfare of their country. Although 
reared and schooled in the arts of peace, when war with its cruel 
work of destruction came, Peterborough never faltered in her duty. 
The old French and Indian war found many a true soldier among 
the sons of Peterborough. And when the war of the revolution 
came the sons of Peterborough were found at Lexington and Con- 
cord, at Bunker Hill, at Bennington and Saratoga. And the moth- 
ers said to their husbands and brothers, "Go, and die if need be, 
that your county may live." Such were the characters, and of such 
material were the fathers of Peterborough made whose memory we 
have met to-day to honor. Well may we pause for one day in the 
busy work of life, and thank God while we rear a tablet to their 
memory. And in later years, when the great war of the rebellion 
came, when treason and secession turned her guns on old Sumter, 
and tore down the dear old flag which our fathers bore through such 
hardships and trials with unfaltering faith, its thunders were heard 
by the sons of Peterborough, and like the minute men of the olden 
time the sons of Peterborough left the shop, the mill and the farm. 
Yes, and gave their lives that the dear old flag might still wave as 
in the days of the fathers. Yes, citizens of Peterborough, as we 
stand here to-day with uncovered heads in solemn memory of the 
past, and rear a tablet that shall tell to generations yet to come, 
how the fathers and mothers laid the foundation of this grand civ- 
ilization, under God Almighty's inspiration, that to-day is the 
wonder and admiration of the world, let us devoutly thank him 
for these treasures which arc above i)rice. 

And now, citizens of Peterborough, and friends, in behalf of 
the absent ones, I sincerely thank you for your most cordial invi- 
tation, through your committee, to attend this grand festival, and 



68 

may tlie riciiest of heaveu's blessings be ever yours. And let me 
assui'e you these words only expi-ess faintly the good wishes of the 
absent ones for your weal in all the avenues of life. And when we 
and > ou are done with earth, may we all meet in that great festal 
tlnoiig which is beyond tlie shores of time, to spend an eternity 
through Christ our great redeemer, where sorrow will never come. 
May God bless you all. 

The Chairman : 

Mu. Pkesidknt: — We are fortunate to-day in having with us in 
the person of Miss Betsey FoUansbee, the oldest living member of 
the choir who sang to us fifty years ago on the occasion of Peterbo- 
rough's centennial. I will now read a letter from a younger mem- 
ber of that choir, now living in St. Helena, Cal. 

St. Helena, Cal., October 16, 1889. 

Geo. H. Longley, Chairman of Choir Committee — Dear Sir: — I 
read in the Transcript an invitation for all members of the choir 
of 183'J to be present Oct. 24, 1889. I sincerely regret that it is 
not possible for me to be with you on that occasion. I think I am 
correct in representing myself the youngest member of that choir. 

It would give me real pleasure to meet the remnant of that nu- 
merous body of fifty years ago, and join them in singing some of 
the old songs that were sung on that occasion. Sad must be the 
reflection of many that may participate in your celebration, as 
they look over the assembly and miss the familiar faces of the silver 
haired Abbot, Payi**^"; Smith, Steele, Moore, Miller, Ames, Scott 
and others — aye, and many of the sons of those sires, who were 
.then in the prime of life, and in their places behold faces un- 
known to that time. P^ifty years hence the childi'en of to-day will 
be the old men with silvered hair. 

It has been my fortune to see nuich of the beauty and grandeur 
of scenery of both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes. I now reside in 
one of tho most beautiful valleys of California, but no view could 
be dearer to my sight than that of grand Monadnock, or the clear, 
rippling waters of the Contoocook, or Nubanusit. For romantic 
scenery, Peterborough ranks with the best of our country. 

Hoping that all who celebrate 188'J may live to celebrate 11)39, I 
send greetings to all who remember 

SoPHRONiA Scott Allyn. 

Response by choir. 

The Chairman: 

Fellow Citizens: — New Hampshire is honored to-day in the 
fact that hei' sons are sought for to hold positions of responsibility 
and honor throughout the republic. Tlie great State of Massachu- 
setts in the politic-al contest now before her i>eople, places at the 
head of her ticket for the ofllces of governor and lieutenant-gov- 
(Muor the names of New Hampshire born men. Peterborough has 
done her full share in producing men Avho have filled honorable 
stations in the nation. We are fortunate to-day in the presence of 
one, who, not born here in town, received most of his early train- 
ing among us, and who for many years was connected with the 



69 

manufacturing- interests of the town and deeply interested in its 
growtli and prosperity ; one whom the citizens of this, his native 
State, thought good enough to twice elect to the office of chief 
magistrate. Allow me to introduce Ex-Governor P. C Cheney of 
Manchester, N. H. 

Mr. President — Ladies and Gentlemen: — I thank my friend, 
the toastmaster, for this kindly introduction, and thank you all for 
this cordial greeting. A few days ago, I was notified that upon 
this occasion I would be called upon for a five or ten minutes' 
speech, and tliat I might select my own subject. You all know 
that "impromptu speeches" are as a rule, carefully written out and 
committed to memory. The constant and pressing demand upon 
my time has prevented any attempt on my part to observe this cus- 
tom, so I come before you with simple "jottings," which are more 
in the nature of personal recollections regarding the events which 
were so notable here fifty years ago. 

Although but eleven years of age, recollections of the incidents 
connected with them are as fresh in my memory as if of recent oc- 
currence. Too young to be of service, yet I was old enough to be 
an interested observer of much that transpired, and large enough, 
I doubt not, to be. at times considerably in the way ; but I remem- 
ber that my cup of happiness was full, and that nothing occurred 
to mar the pleasure of the day. On the street, in front of the 
church where the exercises were held, the late A. D. AVhitcomb, 
Esq., of Hancock, the late Charles G. Cheney, my brother, and my- 
self, witnessed the imposing procession, listened to the martial 
strains of music, and watched with eager eyes the steady marching 
of the Peterborough Guards, Capt. Oliver, and the Peterborough 
Light Infantry, Capt. Samuel R. Miller. Their uniforms were 
attractive, and to us as boys, dazzling. 

I remember that I took a special interest in the Peterborough 
Guards, for it was a new company, comparatively. My uncle, the 
late A. P. Morrison, was one of the line officers, and I was fre- 
quently drafted into service to do errands, and allowed to assist in 
making cartridges for sham fights at the annual musters, and help 
unbox and brush up the "trappings" for May trainings. 

I remember well that the church was filled to its utmost capacitj', 
including a large number of the more immediate descendants of 
the early settlers of this goodly town of Peterborough. I remem- 
ber well the long list of names of these settlers, conspicuously ar- 
ranged on the walls of the church, that they might the more emphat- 
ically be honored by the vast audience. It was here that I first list- 
ened to the distinguished and honored gentleman who delivered the 
centennial address, and, Mr. President, I still have in mind the im- 
pression made upon me by the orator, and I trust you will pardon 
me for saying in this presence, that his fifty years of a conspicuous- 



70 

ly christian life since then, has only been in confirmation of my boy- 
hood remembrance. 

This highest type of manhood and moral excellence, which has 
been so helpfnl to all who have come within its inflnence, affords a 
striking illustration of the divine attributes in man, mingling with 
his fellow men, leading them onward and upward. 

I also recall to mind the speech of Capt. Oliver, speaking for 
the citizen soldiery. I suppose that what marked this particularly 
upon my mind, was my great interest in the company. 

A sentence of this speech relative to the future of our country 
seems almost prophetic, and is worthy of being reproduced here. 
He says: ''Our country is destined to grow on to till the valley of 
the Mississippi, to spread itself along the Ked River, the Arkansas, 
the Missouri; climb the Rocky Mountains, descend upon the Col- 
umbia and overspread the shores of the Pacific Ocean, with a hun- 
dred millions of human beings, as free and independent as our- 
selves." Since these words were uttered, our country, through the 
precious blood of her citizen soldiery, has laid aside her shackles and 
become free in reality. 

Her population has increased from seventeen to sixty-five mil- 
lions of people, and upon the Pacific slope she has a single city with 
300,000 inhabitants. She has been put to a crucial test, such as no 
other government on the face of the earth has ever been subjected 
to, and emerged from it in all the glory and pride of a great re- 
public, wMiich had for its foundation-stone equal rights for all. 

Other speeches, too, I remember, notably those of Dr. Smith, 
Captain Scott, and Gen. Wilson, names that will, to the latest gen- 
eration, be esteemed, beloved and honored. It is indeed fitting 
that a tribute of respect should at this time be paid to the memory 
of all the men who reflected so much credit on the town at the close 
of the first century of its settlement. If the young men and boys 
who are present to-day, and who are to be the future custodians 
of the town's "good name" and honor, and who, with others, are 
to conduct the exercises of the two hundredth anniversary, will see 
to it that in their intellectual attainments and moral worth they are 
equally meritorious as were those of the first, you may be assured that 
you will leave to the. succeeding generations the historical records 
of the town, as having reflected credit and distinction upon the de- 
scendants and successors of the town's earlier settlers. 

Mr. President, referring move particularly to our own connec- 
tion with the events which have become a matter of record within 
the last fifty years, I can but recall them Avith a feeling of sadness, 
for within that time, of the many who were here then, but few are 
left; wise as we believe the rulings of Providence, yet the hours 
of excessive sorrow, which have come to those who still remain, 
have made the burdens and trials of life seem at times almost over- 
powering, but their enduring faith, their exalted hope, and implic- 



71 

it trust that finally all would be overruled for good, has carried 
them safely along, with the hope that the few years left to iheiii 
here may be the more fitting for the life beyond. 

The treasured dead we have in our memory, and we are not un- 
mindful of how important and helpful was their life work, while 
here. To them may much be ascribed, through which the town 
has been «o notably honored and given such prominence among her 
sister towns. No people were ever more keenly alive to a sense of 
honor, more loyal to their government, or more liberal and chari- 
table in their dealings with their fellow men than the citizens of 
Peterborough. Their aim and purpose have been progressive in 
advancing the pnblic interest in sustaining the nation's honor ; nor 
have they been forgetful of their own honor in not caring for their 
heroic dead. The artistic and simple shaft which you have erected 
by the shore of your beautiful river, marks well your affection, as 
well as your purpose, to ever hold them in tender recollection. 
The present indebtedness of the town may also well be cited in 
this connection, for it is composed largely of your war tax to save 
your government, and your contributions to ensure first-class rail- 
road facilities to your business men. 

The interest in your public library, your public schools, your 
churches, and all that goes to mark the character of the people as 
progressive, is everywhei-e observant, and as citizens you may well 
be proud of the commanding position of your town. Those of us 
who were long so closely associated with you, but called to other 
fields, have not forgotten their old time friends, nor allowed their 
love and affection to become extinct by the more imperative de- 
mands made upon them in a more extended sphere of action. 
With you they have a common feeling of pride in all that redounds 
to the glory and fame of the town. Speaking for myself person- 
ally, I may say that the thirty-two years, during which this was 
my home, and which included my boyhood days, my youth, and 
my early manhood, receiving as I did from her people their un- 
bounded confidence and friendship, I have ever been loath to sever 
my connection entirely with you. 

I have found pleasure in retaining my membership with your lodg- 
es, and declining to sell my pew in the church where I was wont 
to worship. This last reference calls to mind many incidents well 
known to many of you, and some of them were of a mirthful 
class, but which I suppose are well nigh forgotten. Want of time 
will not allow them to be introduced here to any extent, but there 
is one so brief, so apt and withal so characteristeric, that I will 
venture to repeat it. 

The time and place was the Unitarian church under the pastor- 
ship of the scholarly Rev. Dr. Robinson. The janitor or sexton of 
the church was our old friend, Mr. Joseph Cram. A furious, 
blinding, long continued snow storm, had culminated upon a Sab- 



72 

bath morning, and the roads and streets were impassible. The 
sexton shoveled his way to the church, lighted his fires, and rang 
the first bell. No one appeared in i-esponse, yet at the given time 
he tolled the bell for the commencement of the service. Just as 
he had finished the minister appeared, nearly exhausted by his ef- 
forts to get there. He eagerly inquired if there were many people 
there. "Not anybody," replied the sexton, '"but you and I, and 
we would not be here if we were not paid for it." The minister 
was no longer serious, but found his way back home with his ser- 
mon, and so greatly amused as to relate the witty and sly retort to 
his many friends. 

But, Mr. President, I have used up my allotted time, and I will 
close with my thanks for your attention. 

The Chairman : 

Mr. President: — Recognizing the prominence of the name of 
Smith as connected with the \rdst history of Peterborough, 1 ad- 
dressed a note to the Hon. Jeremiah Smith of Dover, N. H., a dis- 
tinguished representative of that honored name, inviting him to be 
present to-day and favor you with a short address. We are hon- 
ored by his presence, but his health will not permit him to address 
you. I will therefore call upon Jonathan Smith, Esq., of Clinton, 
Mass., who will speak to the sentiment, 

"The Smiths of Peterborough." 
Mr. President and Fellow Citizens of Peterborough: — I 
must ask your indulgence in declining to make any extended allu- 
sion to the family to which I belong. The presence here this af- 
ternoon of its most distinguished living representative, whose 
health and modesty (a prominent trait, by the way, of all the sons 
and daughters of Peterborough), prevent his describing to you their 
characters, and the prominent parts they had in the early history 
of the town, renders the task a more appropriate one for him than 
myself. But the kindly introduction of your chairman calls to 
mind one feature of the history of Peterborough which deserves a 
stronger emphasis in these exercises than it has yet received, illus- 
trating as it does the character of the early settlers and their de- 
scendants, and the kind of men they were and we know are still. 
To the student of our local history no chapter is more interesting 
or suggestive than that which relates to our military annals. It 
opens within six years from the first permanent settlement of the 
town, and closes at a period within the memory of nearly all pres- 
ent. It is interesting in view of the number of soldiers the town has 
furnished for the difTerent wars, the hardships they endured and the 
sacrifices they freely made for the difTerent causes they defended. 
It is also suggestive of many thoughts in light of the fact that every 
war in which the town has taken an active part was waged for the 



73 

defense or preservation of religious freedom and the institutions 
of civil liberty. The war with Mexico, a causeless quarrel with a 
weak neighbor, struck no sympathetic cord in the hearts of her 
people. It is not known that a single citizen of the town served in 
the armies of Generals Scott or Taylor. The contest with Great 
Britain in 1812 did not draw a single man, with one exception, 
into active service. Twenty-three, when a draft was inin)inent, 
volunteered for the defense of Portsmouth to protect that 
place from foreign invasion, but not a man was injured and not 
one marched bej'ond the borders of the State. The early settlers 
of the town, any more than their descendants in 1861, were no 
lovers of strife. Military achievements and glory had no attrac- 
tions for them. They had fled from wars and persecutions in the 
old country to seek peace and quiet, under liberty, upon these 
western shores. For their conscience sake, and to enjoy the bless- 
ings of freedom in their own way, they came here to clear the for- 
ests and build their homes, and for these they braved the rig- 
ors of a severe climate, and bore all the privations incident to a 
frontier life in an almost unbroken wilderness. Peaceful men, 
loving peaceful pursuits, they were yet men of the truest courage. 
Theirs was not a mere physical courage, born of a strong baud and 
clear head; it was rather a sacred courage, born of a strong hand 
and a vigorous understanding united to a humble, tender and 
loving heart. ''A good believing, strong minded man for a new 
settler," John Brown once said, "is worth a thousand men without 
character." It is a faithful description of the founders of Peter- 
borough. It was their consistent, upright characters, joined to 
their fearless lives, which early gave right direction to the town, 
and which stamped their impress upon the people for all time. 

The infant colony was fortunate in this, that it was never the 
victim of an Indian massacre. Yet the savage foe was all about 
it, and for years the settlers literally slept upon their arms in 
hourly fear of attack. It was the irony of fate that they came so 
far and braved so much for the sake of peace and quiet, that they 
should find themselves in their new homes in the midst of dangers 
greater and more dreaded than any they had left behind. If it 
kept alive in their minds a familiarity with the scenes and suffer- 
ings of war, it also intensified their loyalty to those great princi- 
ples of civil and religious liberty which they came here to plant 
and to enjoy. 

In the war of 1755, a contest between the civilization of France 
and the civilization of England for supremacy on this continent, 
they recognized the issue and cheerfully did their full part. The 
settlement was hardly six years old, yet at the close of that bloody 
struggle in 1759, though the whole male population between 10 and 
and 60 years, able bodied and otherwise, was barely eighty per- 
sons, the town had furnished thirty-six men for the army, of whom 



74 

f(Hirto(Mi had been killed or died in camp. Probably more than 
one-half of those fit for military duty and of military age had 
entered the service, and 25 per cent, had perished. Only those 
here to-day familiar with wai- and all it means can imagine the 
privations those soldiers endured in their long marches through 
unbroken forests; with rations poor, meagre and uncertain of sui>- 
ply ; in hourly peril of the deadly ambush by cruel and wily foes: 
with no agent of the sanitary commission or ministering angel of 
the Red Cross at their elbows to catch them as they fell by hostile 
bullet or deadly disease, bear them tenderly away to comfortable 
and well furnished hospitals, minister to their wants and soothe 
their sufferings. But well knowing all this they did not shrink; 
the hardships and the perils of that war neither abated their pat- 
riotism nor cooled their ardor for the colonial cause. The town 
furnished its full quota of men and had its representatives in every 
campaign from 1755 to the fall of Quebec in 1759. When, sixteen 
years later, the war with the mother country came, appealing as it 
did to their strong love for these homes which they had planted 
here at the expense of so much sorrow and toil, and to their broad- 
er and more comx^rehensive ideas of local self government, taxa- 
tion by consent only, and freedom from irresponsible kingly au- 
thority, they entered zealously into it. It was hardly light (ui the 
morning of April 19th, 1775, when a tired horseman aroused Capt. 
Robert A\^ilson at his residence on the Street Road, a few rods up 
the hill south of the Wilson corner, with the news that the British 
troops were leaving Boston on an expedition into the country. 
"Before noon of that day,'' says the old chronicle, "every able 
bodied man in town was on the march to the relief of their breth- 
ren at Concord and Lexing-ton." Seventeen soldiers of the town 
fought at Bunker Hill, of whom four were wounded. Twenty- 
five took part in the campaign against Burgoyne, and from first to 
last one hundred and forty-five diflerent men served in the army — 
one out of every five of the whole population. 

Nearly every able bodied man of military age must in course of 
the war, have entered the service. Nothing suggests to the mind 
so vividly the severity of that conflict, the terrible drain it was 
upon the resources of the town, or the stern, unflinching devotion 
of the fathers to the ideas and principles which underlay the revo- 
lutionary war, as this one fact. We must remember, too, that ag- 
riculture was the only industry; that there was no money for 
taxes; that the currency was fluctuating and often worthless; 
that in addition to the constant drain of men the town had to fur- 
nish its quota of beef and other supplies for the army in the field; 
the people were poor, had nothing but their land, barely cleai-ed 
of trees, rocky and sterile, from which to support themselves and 
fill their contributions for the public service. Only a brave, con- 
scientious and determined peoj)le, fighting for a righteous cause^ 



75 

can for eight long weary years carry on such war and bear its bur- 
dens. And we may well suppose that when the victory was finally 
won and they had gained all for which they had contended, they 
counted it all as joy that they had dared and sacrificed so much, 
and that the principles for which they had contended were more 
lovingly cherished for the price they had paid for them. 

Only one other military event, since the revolution, has touched 
the town in a manner to test the patriotism of its people and try 
their patience and courage. I need not name it — it is fresh in the 
minds of all. In 1861 not one of the revolutionary soldiers or cit- 
izens was living. A few of the veterans of 1812 remained, objects 
of peculiar veneration and respect to the young men of twenty- 
eight years ago. The town knew nothing of war or of the hard- 
ships and sufferings that come with it. The people were absorbed 
in business, taking deep interest in the questions out of which the 
rebellion finally grew, but no more anticipating an armed conflict 
with the South than we are to-day. The great awakening of i^at- 
riotism which the sound of the first hostile cannon produced will 
never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. In the space of four 
years the town sent 10 per cent, of its entire population into the 
army, and more than 40 per cent, of its able bodied men of mili- 
tary age. 

The character of that gigantic struggle, the terrible sacrifices of 
treasure and blood, which for four long vcars the town, like the 
old priest of Israel, poured upon the country's altar, need no far- 
ther rehearsal here to-day. After twenty-five years of peace and 
unexampled prosperity, its effects are still seen in the scores of 
feeble and battle scarred forms which daily walk your streets ; 
you read them in the records of forty-five of the bravest and best 
of your sons and daughters whose names are written on yonder 
monument ; the greatness of your sacrifice comes back to you upon 
every returning Memorial Day, when the Grand Army decks with 
the flowers of spring the graves of more than fifty of their com- 
rades, who, since the war have been mustered out of all earthly 
service. Surely in the presence of all these memorials we may 
well claim that the spirit of the fathers descended upon their 
children of 1861. As we recall their names and deeds, whether 
they fell in the deadly ambush on the shores of Lake George in 
17o8, or perished in resistance to northern invasion at Saratoga in 
1777, or died on the heights of Gettysburg, or wore their lives 
away in the prison pens of Salisbury and Andersonville — 

"Our souls grow fine 
With keen vibrations from the touch Divine 
Of noble natures gone." 

We are proud of their self devotion, their unflinching courage, 
and their loyalty to the truth. Such heroism and such memories 
are the richest heritage wliich can descend to any people in any 



76. 

ag-e, and we may well be grateful that our dear old town has such 
a priceless legacy of patriotism and self denial committed to her 
keeping. May we, her sons and daughters, assembled here to re- 
new our vows of love and fealty to the place of our birth, make 
fresh resolve that the love of country, and that steadfast loyalty to 
the principles of right and justice which the fatliers so nobly ex- 
emplified and their children in '61 so bravely maintained, shall de- 
scend to our children and to our children's children to the remotest 
generation. 

The Chairman: 

I will now call upon the Eev. W. H. Walbridge to respond to 
the sentiment, 

"The Religious Interests of Peterborough." 
Mr. President : — If the religious interests of Peterborough are 
to be represented on this interesting occasion, it is fitting, perhaps, 
that the oldest settled pastor, and pastor of the oldest church in 
this town should speak for the churches. 

Others have spoken of the industrial progi'ess of the town dur- 
ing the last half century, of the improved methods of agriculture 
and manufacture, of the new and better educational facilities 
which the town affords as compared with those of fifty years ago. 
We have witnessed a long and imposing procession, civic, military, 
industrial, representing the social, mechanical and commercial life 
of the people. Show to one Avho is accustomed to reckon only the 
market value of everthing, who measures all human activities by 
commercial standards, I confess that the work of the churches may 
appear very insignificant in the pi'csence of this grand display of 
material things, and these evidences of gi-owth andprogi-ess. And 
the minister may be pardoned if he pauses for the moment to ask, 
"Of what use am I? What part or lot has the church in this msig- 
nificent display which speaks of the industry, skill, thrift and in- 
telligence of tlie people of this town?" 

The common opinion respecting all human avocations and activ- 
ities takes a utilitarian form. Almost the only mention which 
people are wont to ask concerning any proposed measure or pro- 
ject is, "will it pay?" or "what is it worth?" "will it provide 
bread or shoes, wine or furniture?" The plane of thought and 
solicitude is a material one. We want to see all human energies 
of hand, brain and heart directed toward the creation of things 
and an increase of the material resources of our country. We are 
prone in our day to count nothing of value which cannot be con- 
verted into money or its equivalent. The glory of scientific dis- 
covery and nKH^lianical inventions is often seen only in the relation 
of tliese to the pocket and the larder. If a knowledge of chemis- 
try and electricity and the laws of the universe will enable man to 
weave cloth out of grass and wood and so clothe himself in gar- 



77 

ments cheap and fine, or send his message from Boston to London 
in the fraction of a minute, science is a splendid thing, for it is 
the servant of man and serves his material interests. Men are not 
slow to detect the outward value of industry and iuventions, and 
a knoweldge of mechanics. But how many minds perceive the 
educational value of these things? How many apprehend in 
the slightest degree that all these human activities have a higher 
end and are capable of ministering to higher uses, in the education 
of the spirit, the culture and development of those faculties where- 
by we perceive the wisdom and glory of God manifested in all and 
through all. 

The progress of the human race in the past fifty years has been 
great. No age has ever witnessed such grand achievements in the 
domain of physical things as our own. The power whicli man 
has acquired over the forces of nature is indeed marvellous. And 
these discoveries and inventions have contributed in a large meas- 
ure towards an increase of wealth and a multiplication of those 
things which minister to the physical comfort and material pros- 
perity of man. I trust that you will not understand me as depre- 
ciating these evidences of material growth and prosperity. I 
would not utter a single word to detract from the value of the 
grand achievements of this age and generation, or withhold my 
poor tribute of admiration and praise for those who have done so 
much to improve the physical condition and advance the material 
interests of man. With you I rejoice in what our eyes behold this 
day. With you I glory in the industrial progress of a century and 
a half since this town was incorporated whose close we celebrate 
to-day. 

But in the name of the church I would urge my plea for that 
which I conceive to be higher, better, holier, for that which is 
more essential to the largest, fullest, divinest life of the individu- 
al and the race, and without which no life can attain to the highest 
and noblest development of all its powers. 

It seems to me that there is great danger that we may come to 
look upon these achievements of modern thought and inventive 
genius — the telegraph and the telephone, and all the numerous 
contrivances of mechanical ingenviity and skill — as the only, or the 
chief props of our civilization, and so to consider that man has 
attained his full stature, his greatest power, when he has subdued 
the material world, conquered the forces of nature, and made 
them his tributaries to minister to his physical needs and pour 
gold into his cotfers. 

I would remind you that a nation's strength does not reside in 
its material riches, in its armies and navies, not in the application 
of steam and electricity to mechanical uses. It is something far 
more subtile and powerful and permanent than these things which 
make a nation strong and insures it against decay. "These things 



ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone." An 
exckisive devotion to material interests may tend toward the 
decay and not the upbuilding of national and individual life. 
History bears witness that some of tlie mightiest civilizations of 
the past have perished, not from a lack of material resources — they 
liad bread enough and to spare. Gold and silver (hey had in 
abundance. They died of spiritual starvation; because it is writ- 
ten that "man shall not live by bread alone," and "his life con- 
sisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." 

The apostles of science and art, of learning and religion, the 
great poets and philosophers and statesmen of the past, whose 
names have become household words were men into whose souls 
shone the light of a diviner truth, a nobler ideal than is found in 
the pursuit of wealth as the end of life. The ideal which went be- 
fore them as a i)illar of fire and cloud was nothing that the eye 
could see or the hand grasp. It was the ti'ue, the beautiful, the 
good. This is the highest, divinest philosophy of life. It is un- 
der the inspiration of such a spirit that beauty, chivalry, love, and 
all the sublimest virtues flourish and increase. 

And this is the function of the church — to keep before men the 
higher ideal of life ; to charm the soul upward ; to woo and win 
man from the worship of Mammon to the love of rightousness, 
from the gratification of sensual appetites and desires to the life 
of tlie spirit, to remind him that he is not wholly of "the earth 
earthy," but a living soul, a child of God, and heir to incorrupti- 
ble riches, and if mankind ever rises above the animal and gains 
a complete victory over the baser passions and propensities of his 
nature; if he is to become something more than a calculating ma- 
chine or a mere pleasure seeker ; if the moral and spiritual senti- 
ments are to be enthroned over tlie merely animal desires, it will 
be largely due to the power and influence of the Christian church. 
It is not the business of the church to create things but to train 
men, to form character. Theodore Parker said that "the highest 
function of a nation is to bring forth and bring up noble men and 
women." The fairest fruit which the people of any town can 
show is not the product of its farms and forges, its looms and 
workshops, but the high characters, intellectual, moral and relig- 
ious, of its men and women. And this must always be the true 
test of progress, viz. : What sort of men and women are bred and 
reared? If they be lacking in those qualities which alone can give 
worth and dignity and glory to manhood and womanhood it is in 
vain to boast of the crops Ave raise, the shoes we make, the cloth 
we weave. If our modern civilization bears not a higlier and bet- 
ter type of men and women than was born and bred in the past, 
then we may well consider whether we have made progress in what 
is most vital to the strength and integrity of the commonwealth. 
Toward this supreme end and aim of life it Avill be found, I think, 



79 

that the church has contributed not a little. And so we may justly 
feel that in everything that has contributed to the growth and 
prosperity of our town in what is essential and of permanent 
value, the churches have not been found wanting-. They have 
done their part, and will so continue in the future to labor for 
what is highest and best. 

The Chairman: 

I have here a letter from a native of Peterborough, Prof. N. H. 
Morison, of Baltimore, Md., the author of the flue poem to which 
you liave this day listened, and whose annual return to his sum- 
mer home among us we so much welcome, which 1 will now read : 

20 W. Madison St., Baltimore, Md., Oct. 20, 1889. 

F. G. Clarke, Esq., Chairman. Dear Sir: — I find, as I antic- 
ipated, that neither my occupations nor my health will permit me 
to make a journey to Peterborongh for the celebration. I regret 
this the more, as it is probably the last important occasion at which 
I shall be able to take a part in the town's proceedings. The fam- 
ily will be well represented by mj' brother who will read my 
small contribution to the occasion — a contribution which has 
awakened in me a stronger and a sadder feeling than is my wont, 
as the past came vividly before me in the composition. 

My youth in Peterborough was a happy one, my friends numer- 
ous and ardent, and the recollections of my early life are still most 
agreeable, but sad from the entire loss of those I best knew and 
most loved. In matnre life we were scattered broad-cast over the 
land ; and most of my friends have finished their work and de- 
parted. "We a little longer wait," but it cannot be long. 

I trust that the town will maintain its old reputation for enter- 
prise and honesty, and that those characteristics which have given 
it a peculiar fame among its neighbors may never depart. 
I am, my dear sir, yours very truly, 

N. H. Morison. 

The Chairman announced that he had received interesting letters 
fi'om absent sons and daughters, and the following embrace the 
same: 

Medina, Mich., Oct. 17, 1889. 

Gentlemen :^Your card of Oct. 7, inviting me to be present 
at the loOth anniversary of the settlement of my native town of 
Peterborough is received. I can assure you, gentlemen, that it 
would give me great pleasure to be present with you on the 24th 
of the present month and participate in the exercises and festivi- 
ties of the occasion, and take by the hand old friends, some of 
whom I have not met for more than fifty years, and may never 
meet again, but circumstances beyond my control render it impos- 
sible. It is pleasant, after a residence of fifty-three years in the 
west, to be remembered by the inhabitants of my native town. 
Eighteen years of my early life were passed on the old Moore 
homestead, and five years in the machine shops of Peterborough, 
but in all my wanderings I have never had any wish to deny the 
fact that I was born among the granite hills of New Hampshire, 
or that I was a Peterborough boy. Your early inhabitants were 
noted for their push and enterprise. The first water loom and the 



80 

first cloth manufactured in New Hampsliire upon a water loom 
was manufactured at the old Bell Factory in Peterboroujih. I look 
with aduiiration on the old men of Peterboroug:h of seventy years 
ago. There was something- in the bean porridge and brown bread 
manufactured by the ])ioneer mothers of Peterborough that brought 
their sons and their daug^hters to the front. I take no small pride 
in reviewing the military history of the descendants of the pioneer 
fathers and mothers of Peterboroug-h. The battle of Brownstown 
made the name of Gen. James Miller a household name among 
the native French of Michigan when I came here in 18;U. Every 
school boy in America is aware of the fact that Abraham Lincoln 
was in the Blackhawk war, but few even in Peterborough may be 
aware of the fact that Cyrus Felt, a Peterborough bov, carried a 
musket and served in the same regiment and in the same campaign 
with Abraham Lincoln. In the late war they were among' the first 
and the last to put down the Rebellion. They were in the first 
Michigan infantry that made the first advance into Virginia, on 
the 24th of May, 1861, and they were present at the surrender of 
Gen. Lee and the capture of Jelf Davis. They served on every 
battle field with the army of the Potomac. They were with Grant 
at Fort Donelson, at Pittsburg Landing and at Vicksburg; with 
Thomas at Nashville; with Rosecrans at Stone river, and they 
fought with Hooker among the clouds at Lookout mountain, and 
they went with Shei'mau in his march to the Sea. 

This anniversary brings to my mind many pleasing recollections 
of my childhood and youth. 1 can never forget my native town. 
My ancestors for three generations are buried there. 
Verj^ respectfully yours, 

George W. Mooke. 



No. 1449 Mass. Ave., Washington, D. C, 17 Oct., 1889. 

Gentlemen: — Your kind invitation to the celebration of the 24th 
instant, at Peterborough, is received, and I must thank you for it, 
though unable to be present. 

I have no doubt that the exceptional high standing of your town 
among those of the State, is most due to the hardy Scotch-Ii'ish 
stock from Londonderry, which formed the bulk of its original 
settlers — a stock "iv/iose h/ood,'' in the words of a modern most em- 
inent statesman, '^has enriched (til who have had the t/ood fortune 
to inherit it." After quoting this high euloi/iiini, I trust it may 
savor of pride alone and not of vanity, if I add that I find in my 
own pedigree that particular one of those male pioneers who lived, 
T think, to the most extreme old age — the first John Morrison. 

Among your natives, too, was my wife's grandfather. General 
James Miller, U. S. A., of the same Scotch origin, whose charac- 
ter — as "drawn by Hawthorne in his celebrated preface to "T/<e 
Scarlet Jjetter," and as exemplified in his life — is yet further evi- 
dence of the sterling quality of those Londonderry settk^rs. 

I was much struck by the sup(!rb ajjpearance of a ])rocession of 
Scotchmen whom I saw pass down School street in Boston on the 
29th of August last, and I am quite of the belief tliat no more dis- 
tinguished tyi)e of manly beauty can be found in Europe or Amer- 
ica, than among the Scotch and their descendants. 

1 often had occasion to consult your excellent "History of Pe- 
terborough" when preparing the oration which I jjronounced at 
the centennial celebration of your neighbor town of Tenqjle, and 
in writing the history of my native place. Its "genealogies" were 



81 

quite full, I remember; but if any omissions occurred, you will 
now have an opportunity to supply them in the continued chroni- 
cle, which your new celebration will make necessary. 
I have the honor to remain, gentlemen, 

Your obedient servant, 

Henry Ames Blood. 



Dover N. IL, October lo, 188!>. 
Dear Col. Scott: — Your very kind invitation to attend the Pe- 
terborough Anniversary has been duly received ; but I doubt 
whether it Avill be convenient for me to be present. If I do at- 
tend, I must ask to be excused from speech making. The old 
homestead will be creditably represented in that line by my cousin 
Jonathan. Yours truly, 

Jeremiah Smith. 



Beloit, Wisconsin, October lo, 1889. 

Joseph Farnum, &c. Gentlemen : — I have to thank your com- 
mittee for your invitation to meet the citizens of Peterborough, 
N. H., on the 24th inst., when they propose to celebrate the 150th 
anniversary of the incorporation of their town. I regret that I am 
«;ompelled to forego the pleasure of meeting with you. 

On February 21st, 183!», now more than fifty years ago, I turned 
iny face towards the west. I have a very clear recollection of 
what Peterborough and her people were then, and I should like 
very much to see what they are now, and how they conduct their 
public meetings. 

When I was a boy, among other of the leading men in the town 
meetings were John H. Steele, Stephen P. Steele and his uncle 
John Steele, and Wm. Scott. Now they are all sleeping with the 
* 'great majority." Fifty years is a very long bridge, and on the 
card which I received there are but three familiar names. 

Hon. Nathaniel Holmes was a young man Mhen I was a boy : 
John AVilder and I were boys together, attending the old No. 1 
school; A. A. Farnsworth, if I am not mistaken, used to attend 
the Presbyterian church, as I myself did in those days. The cler- 
gyman was the Rev. Mr. Holt, and he Avas succeeded by the Rev. 
Mr. Pine. Fifty years ago we had no railroad, except one from 
Boston to Lowell. There were no railroads in New Hampshire. 
We had no daily papers, no telegraph and no telephone, and the cler- 
gymen were not prcacliing against the sin of reading the Sunday 
newsi)ai)ers. In those days we liad two long sermons every Sunday. 
I think the)^ were very "'sound," but the boys thought them a little 
tedious. So far as I ever heard there was no difference <if opinion 
among the boys on that subject. In those days we had no advanced 
ritual, there was no difference between the high and low church as 
now. There was nothing in the service to appeal to the imagina- 
tion or the eye. The result was, that to the young, it seemed a 
little dry. 1 presume it is different now. 

I still indulge in the ho])e that sometime I shall seePeterborougli 
again, but it is impossible for me to be with you on tiie 21th inst. 
Yours very sincerely, 

S. J. Toi>i). 



82 

Nashua, October 22, 1889. 

Gf.xtlkmkn: — I regret that unavoidable enyajrements will pre- 
vent niv acceptance of your invitation to attend the celebration of 
the l;J(ith anniver.sary of the •settlement of the town of Peterbo- 
rough. 

The pa«t liistory of Peterborough will compare favorably with 
that of any other town in the State. The town has been a nursery 
of men aiid women who have gone forth, not only into other 
towns in New Hampshire, but into other states, to build up and 
improve the liomes of their adoption. She has sent forth, too, a 
large number who have made their mark on the tield of battle, 
as statesmen, in the learned professions, and in the varied walks 
of life. She did her part in furnishing soldiers in the war of the 
revolution, in tlie war of 1812, and in the late war between the 
States. With other soldiers from the town, Capt. William Scott 
was severely wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, was taken to 
Halifax as prisoner of war, but escaped after a few months' con- 
finement, and was subsequently commander of a company in Col. 
Jackson's regiment in Massachusetts. At Lundy's Lane. Col. Mil- 
ler, on being ordered to storm a British battery, replied, "I'll try, 
sir," and not only captured and held the position, but with it seven 
pieces of elegant brass cannon, and was thereupon immediately 
promoted to the rank of General. She has contributed three gov- 
ernors to this State and one to tlie Territory of Arkansas. She has 
furnished seven members of congress, three judges of State su- 
preme courts — one of whom was chief justice, and sevei-al pro- 
fessors of colleges, as well as a number of accomplished teacliers 
of the public scliools of the country. 

Since the centennial celebration of the settlement of the town in 
1839, Peterborough has made noteworthy progress in material and 
industrial prosperity; may those now living and celebrating this, 
her 150th anniversary, and who shall survive to celebrate her bi- 
centenary, in 1939, witness still more remarkable progress and 
prosperity, in the comparison of the two epochs. 
Yours very truly, 

B. B. AVhittemore. 



Haverhill, Mass., October 21, 1889. 

Mr. Andrew A. Farnsworth, Cojimittee of Invitation. Dear 
Sir:— Your earnest and most cordial invitation to be present and 
participate in the exercises and festivities connected with the cele- 
bration of the loOth anniversary of the incorporation of the town 
of Peterborough is received. 

I distinctly remember as a mere lad of sitting in the east gallery 
of the Unitarian church on the occasion of the 100th anniversary, 
fifty vears ago, and listening to the oration which told of the vir- 
tues and achievements of the early settlers of the town. Although 
I do not remember of seeing a "report of the exercises from that 
dav to this, I recall one toast that was given on that occasion by 
Capt. Samuel C. Oliver, partly i)erha]is from its nature and partly, 
it may be, from the fact of the author's residence being in the 
same section of the town of my own. It was this: "It's no more 
than fair thai the fair partake of our fare." 

When niv mind reverts to old unique and historic Peterborough, 
the i)lace of my nativitv and home of my youth, around Avhich 
clusters so many precious memories of early days, and whose 
soil holds the precious dust of my ancestry, I am reminded of the 



83 

words of the psalmist, "If I forget thee, O, Jerusalem, let my 
right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my 
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem 
above my chief joy." 

There is one link of association that seems to bind the beautiful 
city of my adoption to that of my old home. As I sit in my (jffice 
my eyes rest on a majestic river, gliding along towards the ocean. 
The little stream that furnishes power for most of your industries 
unites its w^aters near the Capitol of your State with the bi-oader 
Mei-rimack, and as these waters flow along past the manufacturing- 
cities of Manchester, Lowell and Law^rence, it is said that they 
carry more spindles and machinery than any other river on the 
globe. 

Allow me to offer a sentiment: "May the declining years of the 
old inhabitants of Peterborough, who have 'served their genera- 
tion by the will of God' during the last half century, be as i)eace- 
ful as the combined w^aters of the Contoocook and Merrimack as 
they enter the sea." 

While expressing my deep regret for my inabilitj'' to be present 
on what must be a most joj^ous occasion, and thanking you for 
your kind invitation, allow^ me to reciprocate by extending to my 
old townsmen a most hearty and cordial invitation to visit this 
border city, the home of Hannah Duston and the birtli])lace of our 
own poet Whittier, nextsummer, when we shall celebrate the 250th 
anniversary of this delightful city. 

Fraternally yours, 

Geo. Thayer. 



Nashua, N. H., October 23, 1889. 

To Joseph Farnum, Esq., and Others, Committee of Invita- 
tion, Gentlemen: — When I received your invitatien to be pres- 
ent at the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the incorpora- 
tion of the town of Peterborough, I fully intended to be present 
upon this most interesting occasion, but the serious illness of my 
aged father calls me to his bedside every night. I must therefore 
forego the pleasure of joining my friends and a goodly company 
of the distinguished men and women who claim Peterborough as 
the place of their birth or residence during some part of their lives. 
Before I became a resident of Peterborough, in 1858, I was famil- 
iar with much of the early history of the town, and knew some- 
thing of the services rendered by its sons, who had shown them- 
selves most worthy descendants of the Londonderry colony, both 
in Church and State. 

A six years' residence among your people made it apparent to 
me that the virtues of the fathers were exemplitied in the intelli- 
gence, independence and good sense of those who at that time 
were sustaining the good reputation of your ancient town. I re- 
gret exceedingly that I cannot be present with you. 
Very truly yours, 

Geo. a. Ramsdell. 



Seattle, Washington, October 18, 1889. 
Joseph Farniim, et al. Gentlemen: — Please accept sincere 
thanks for your kind invitation to be present at the 150th anniver- 
sary of the incorporation of dear old Peterborough. AVhile it will 



84 

be iiiip(js>ible for ine to be with you in person, I assure you I shall 
be in tliou<iIit, as I ever hold dear my native town, and shall ever 
be interested in her prosperity. Enclosed find $.").00 which please 
drop into the celebration fund, as I wish to add my mite to make 
it a success. With kind regards, I remain, 

Very truly yours, 

Willis L. Ames. 



Hurley, Dakota, Octobkk 18, 1889. 
Joseph Faknlm, Escj*., PETEUBOROU(in, N. H., Chaikman Com- 
mittee OF Invitation. Dear Sir: — Your kind invitation to be 
with you on the 24th inst. is at hand, and duly noted. Adow 
me to thank you for the same, and express regrets at not being 
able to be i)resent on an occasion of so much interest to all former 
as well as present residents of your town. Absent sons should not 
forget their mother. That the day may be auspicious, and your 
fullest expectations regarding this Anniversary be more than real- 
ized, is tlie wish of your former townsman, 

J. H. Farnswokth. 



TJovalston, Mass., October 21, 1889. 
To Committee of Invitation. Gentlemen: — It was with great 
[)leasure and satisfaction that we received your kind invitation to 
participate in the exercises and festivities of the semi-centennial, 
to take place October 24, and due ])reparation was made to be pres- 
ent, but an unexpected call to serve a good cause, and allowing no 
delay, will prevent our being" present. Please accept our reg-rets 
and permit the following" sentiment: "May the patriotism, love of 
home, good citizenship, the zeal and progress so fully represented 
by the fathers and mothers of the past, be faithfully and impar- 
tially sustained by the sons and daug-hters of the present." 
Very kindly yours, 

T. M. LONGLEY. 



Eagle River, Mich., October 15, 1889. 
Joseph Farnum and Others, Committee of Invitation: — Your 
card of 7th inst. inviting me to attend the loOtli anniversary of the 
incorporation of tlie town of Peterborough is just at hand, and, 
while nothing tumid give me more pleasure than to meet my old 
ac(|naintances (who must be few now), on such an occasion, I re- 
gret to say tiiat business duties Avill bar me from such enjoyment. 
Permit nie to thank you heartily for your kind invitation. I at- 
tended the looth anniversary, beingtiien a resident of tiie town, and 
well remember many of the speakers of that day, one of whom, 
Ccn. James Wilson, was a life-long friend of mine, and his inter- 
est located me here among the best (topper mines of the world. 
Again thanking you for your kind remembrance of me, and hoping 
the occasion may fully meet your anticipations, I am 
Very respectfully yours, 

Jno. Sexter. 



85 

New Lisbon, AVis., October 11, 18.S9. 
Gentlemen of Committee of Invitation : — Your postal just re- 
ceived. I think you can hardly realize the thrill of pleasure 
that the name Peterborough sent through my heart. Nothing 
would give me greater happiness than to be with you on this anni- 
versary. My earliest recollections dates from your town. While 
it will be impossible for me to be with you in person, you have 
my heartiest good wishes that the festivities maybe agreen spot in 
your memories never to be forgotten. 

Sincerely yours, 

Fred E. Boynton. 



New Lisbon, Wis., October, 1.5, 1889. 

Joseph Farnum and Others, Committee of Invitation. Gen- 
tlemen : — Your kind invitation to meet and participate in the ex- 
ercises and festivities of this eventful occasion is at hand, and 
meets with my unbounded sympathy and encouragement. The 
thought thrills the soul with delight, and the pen falters when 
obliged to announce that circumstances prevent. 

The iirosperity and growth of Peterborough is watched by her 
absent sons with no small degree of pride, and the intense inter- 
est she (her residents) exhibits in her local, state and national 
events, manifests a wide awake spirit that can be traced back to 
the originators of the town, whose minds are embedded with solid 
common sense, immovable as the hills and correct as the judg- 
ment record. Immigration has invaded its enclosure, but the pure 
streams of morality from tlie fountain head follow the direction 
marked out by its originators, and gives it impulse, influence and 
principle. 

After thirty years of absence from my native town I returned, 
expecting much, but found my conceptions more than realized. 
Beautiful and valuable residences dotted the hill tops, while the 
valleys and water powers were utilized by immense structures and 
inviting homes. Articles manufactured in Peterborough are sold 
by the merchants and business men of New Lisbon, Wis. The 
East mountains we were trying to tunnel or remove thirty years 
ag-o for commercial benefits are flanked or rode over by railroads. 
The aged and honored had passed behind the veil, and the simple 
name was inscribed upon the cemetery tombstone, while the hum- 
ming spindle and busy workshops were living monuments to their 
enterprise and genius. The middle aged had become old; the 
young wore locks of grey, while the infants and babes were obey- 
ing the Divine injunction to increase, multiply and replenish the 
earth. Perhaps we are not really born until we die, and if death 
should be only a change of residence, we hope it to be among the 
earnest, enteriirising people of Peterborough. 
Your schoolmate and fi'iend. 

Elias Boynton. 



Newton Loaver Falls, Mass., October 19, 1889. 

Messrs. Joseph Farnum and Others. Gentlemen: — I thank 

you for your kind invitation to be present at your sesqui-centennial. 

Although not a native or former resident, T feel a strong interest 

in the welfare of the town. Mrs. W., whom I married in Peter- 



86 

l»orou<j;h fifty years aoo was a native of Peterborouj^li, and her im- 
mediate relatives reside there now. If nothing unforeseen pre- 
vents I intend to be present. 

Yours most respectfully, 

S. G. AViLLIAMS. 

N. B. — I attended the celebration fifty years ago. 



Lowell, Octouek 19, 1889. 
Hon. Joseph Farnum, and Gentlemen of the Co.m>httee of 
Invitation: — I have i-eceived your invitation to the lAoth anniver- 
sary of the incorporation of tlie town of Peterborough, on October 
2-tth, 1889. You have my thanks for the kind invitation. 

As 1 was the first child born in the town (West Peterborough), 
I think that borough should be represented, therefore I shall en- 
deavor to be jiresent on that occasion. 

Y^ours, &c., 

Samuel Lawrence. 



Philadelphia, Pa., Octoher 19, 1889. 
Joseph Farnum and Others, Committee of Invitation. Gen- 
tlemen: — I havej'Our invitation to participate in your sesqui-cen- 
teunial celebration on the 24th prox. 1 very well remember the 
pleasant occasion we had fifty years ago, in which I took great in- 
terest. I would be very glad to be with you on this occasion, but 
my health and age will prevent. The i)ainf ul part of it would be the 
absence of old and familiar faces— /r/e?u/s who long since passed 
on. I shall be with you in spirit, and hope you will have as good 
a time as we did fifty years ago. 

Very truly yours. 

Wm. B. Bement. 



Utica N. Y., October 24, 1889. 
J. Farnum, Peterhorough, N. H.: — I find to my exceeding sor- 
row that 1 cannot be with the old ladies and gentlemen who were 
l)oys and girls together in '39, hence I send you greeting. Will 
materialize at the two hundredth, if permitted. 
Cordially yours, 

Jas. S. Gray. 



Augusta, Me., October 24, 1889. 
Hon. Frank G. Clarke, Peterboroucjh, N. H.: — Prosperity 
to Peterborough for another century and a half. 

Leslie C. Cornish. 



Antrim, N. II. , October K), 1889. 
Col. F. G. Clarke. Dear Sir: — Your kind invitation to at- 
tend the celebration of the IfjOth anniversary of the settlement of 
the town of Peterborough is i-eceived. I am very sorry to be 
obliged to decline the invitation, having agreed about a Aveek ago 
to attend a meeting of the Merrimack County Pomona Grange at 
Bradford, on Thursday, October 24, and I am already advertised 
for that occasion. 

Truly yours, 

D. H. Goodell. 



87 

713 Fulton St., Troy, N. Y., October 14, 188!). 
Gents. : — Yours of the lOtli instant ctune duly to hand. I tliaiik 
you very much for your kind invitation, but regret being" unable 
to attend, as it would give me great satisfaction to be in good old 
Peterborough once more; and meet my aged friends. Only age and 
infirmity prevent. It has always given me great pleasure to visit 
my native home, especially on such occasions. 
Yours very truly, 

Sarah T. Moore. 



Belfast, Me., October. 1889. 

Dear Friends: — Your circular of October was duly received, 
and I should be most happy to be with you as a native of Peterbo- 
rough, N. H. But distance and the infirmities of age prevent me 
from attending- this 150th anniversary of the town. 

I shall be eighty-five years old if I live until the last day of this 
year; was born in 1804:, the last day. I shall always cherish the 
most sweet and grateful memories of Peterborough and its people. 
I heard Rev. J. H. Morison's address fifty years ago. Still hope 
to have the privilege of reading the one of the 24th. 

I realize time is short and uncertain. Those in life who started 
with us are nearly all gone ; a few remain to remind us of bygones, 
but many, many, have gone the way of all the earth ; so the oldest 
man in your town can testify. I am tired and must close. I can 
write only a little while at a time. Please make due allowance 
for an aged lady's imperfect letter. Kind regards to all. VYisli- 
ing you all health and prosperity, I close. 

Mary B. Pierce. 



Santa Cruz, Cal., October 16, 1889. 
Gentlemen of the Committee of Invitation: — I regret it is 
not convenient to accept your kind invitation to attend the sesqui- 
centennial anniversary. Nothing but distance prevents. I assure 
you no daughter of old Peterborough would enjoy it more than I. 
I shall be there in spirit, and enjoy in imagination the festivities 
in which I can take no part. 

Very respectfully yours, 

Harriet Wilson. 



146 Elm St., Northampton, Mass., October 24, 1889. 
To the Citizens of Peterborough. Dear Friends : — I thank 
you most sincerely for your cordial invitation to me and mine to 
be present on the 24th, to celebrate the l.)Oth anniversary of the 
incorporation of the town, but it is entirely impossil)le for me to 
be present, only in spirit, which I shall most truly be. ]May the 
day be rich with interchange of thoughts and friendly gre(;ting. 
Pleasant and sad memories come to me as I think of dear old Pe- 
terborough. May God be with you and bless you all, is the sin- 
cere wish of 

Your old friend, 

Mrs. Charles B. Ferry. 



88 

The Chairman: 

I will now present a gentleman, Ucy. A. M. Pendleton of Mil- 
ford, N. H., who, not a native, was for several years a citizen, and 
has taken a deeper interest in, and done more for our excellent 
Town Librarj' than any person now living, who will speak to 

"The Town Library." 

Mr President : — If it had been thought of I would gladly have 
prepared a paper on the town library worthy of your attention, 
but without preparation perhaps I can show you how long a time 
it took for the germ to become the perfected institution. The first 
hint of a free town library I have met with in my reading is found 
in a powerful and impassioned address of Lutlier's to the munici- 
pal councils of the German towns, exhorting them to establish 
everywhere Christian schools, both learned and elementary. "The 
strength of a town," he says, "does not consist in its towers and 
buildings, but in counting a great number of learned, serious, 
honest, well-educated citizens. Do not fancy Hebrew and Greek 
to be unnecessary. These languages are the sheath which covers 
the sword of the spirit. How could I have combatted and over- 
thrown pope and sophists, even having the true faith, if I had not 
possessed the languages ?" And then, carried away by his inspi- 
ration, he turns aside from his subje<^t to say: "You must found 
libraries for learned books, — not only the fathers but also the 
pagan writers, the fine arts, law, history, medicine must be rep- 
resented in such collections." 

Luther's words were living things, and forthwith the town 
councils of his dear Germans, as he called them, began to make 
notable collections of books for the free use of all their citizens. 
Their example si)read into France and Italy, and, indeed, into 
most of the leading nations of the continenl^, and doubtless did a 
great and useful work in the furtherance of the Reformation. But 
because no stated provision was made for their increase, and be- 
cause no one then thought of loaning them for home use, they 
gradually sank into neglect and disuse. Though several of them 
were more than once revived, and though they continue to exist 
to this day, the impulse they gained from Luther lost its vital 
force, and they ceased to be among the forming elements of mod- 
ern development. 

Singularly enough, though general on the continent, they did not 
cross the channel, and no instance of such a library was to be 
found in tiie P)rilish Isles, till, stimulated by the foundation of our 
own Boston pul)lic library, the Libraries Act of (ireat Britain 
was passed in 1850. But the Pilgrim fathers in their long sojourn 
in Holland had doubtless become familiar with them, and carried 
the germ of the public library along with the germ of the common 
school, the university and the town meeting to this country. The 



89 

books they carried across seas they ordained in a public statute — 
which seems almost pathetic now— and they should be preserved 
with religious care as if the fate of the infant commonwealth 
was bound up in them, and the curious visitor to that hallowed spot 
on the wintry coast may still take in his hand with awe the ver- 
itable volumes which were the solace and intellectual stimulant of 
the founders, or their immediate successors, of Plymouth colony. 

There was a shadowy library of like character in early Boston, 
which is several times alluded to in such records as have survived, 
but which probably perished either in the fires of 1711 or 1747 that 
twice destroyed the town house and the jjublic records. 

For a long" time after the germ remained dormant. It did not 
even occur to sagacious Franklin to give it a new birth. His pro- 
prietors' or subscription libraries which, begun in Philadelphia, 
spread so rapidly over the middle states and New England, till 
they became a part of the social and intellecual life of almost every 
considerable town, were essentially private libraries restricted to 
those who owned or paid for them, and of which Peterboro' had 
sucessively two if not three at a very early period of its history. 
So slow was the progress of an idea that at the close of the 
eighteenth century there were only two libraries in the country 
in any sense public, and those, I believe, were both theological. 

At last in 1833, Dr. Abiel Abbot, then the minister of the Unita- 
rian church of Peterborough, a lover of books and the founder of 
two other libraries, conceived the idea and carried into execution 
the project of a library to be owned by the town, supported by 
annual town appropriations, managed by a committee of its ap- 
pointment, and whose volumes should be accessible not only in the 
library room, but find their way into the humblest as well as the 
most conspicuous homes, to be the unfailing and perpetual joy of 
all such of its inhabitants as love the dear companionship of books. 

Peterborough Town Library became thus the first instance of 
its kind in the United States, preceding the Boston Public, which 
is often claimed as first, by fifteen years. It also antedates all 
the public libraries of Great Britain and its dependencies by a 
still longer period, and is therefore the first library to realize the 
complete idea of a free town library among the hundred millions 
or more who speak the English tongue on the planet. 

Peterborough has no honor greater than this. It is her chief est 
crown and glory — always to be held with honorable pride and 
preserved with a care as sacred as the Pilgrim statute enjoined. It 
has many wants, chief among which is a building, beautiful for 
its situation, noble in its proportions, containing many apart- 
ments and uses, which Avill make it a kind of town university, and 
altogether worthy of its exceptional historic renown. It will 
require no small sum to build it, and to endow it so that it may 
be the leading educational institution of the town. I appeal to 



90 

> on, the retunied sous and daughters of Peterborough who have 
coine from near and fai- to take part in this anniversary, to join 
with those who keep the old place at home, in making this honored 
institution, by its outward habitation, and by its endowment, the 
crowning joy as well as chief honor of Peterborough forever. 

The Chairman : 

I see with us here to-day one with whom in boyhood I went to 
school, who learned his trade in the printing office in this town, 
and afterwards became proprietor of the establishment and editor 
of the paper, who for several years past has been the editor and 
publisher of an important weekly in another portion of tlie State, 
and who has recently been honored by the district in which he re- 
sides to an election to the N. H. Senate. I refer to Hon. E. H. 
Cheney of Lebanon, N. H., and invite him to speak to the theme, 

"The "Printers of Peterborough." 
Mr. Chairman and Friends : — What best befits this day, it may 
be, is wit and humor; yet it has its serious side. Fill up the 
hours as we will with mirth-provoking reminiscence, till "laughter 
holding both its sides'' confront us, we can but heave a sigh as we 
recall joys that shall never return, and faces we shall know no 
more. I recall a bit of boyish indignation over the fact that I was 
not deemed old enough to attend the centennial. In families such 
as you and I, sir, represent, so common on those days, so rare to- 
day, it was necessary to draw the line somewhere. The one-horse 
shay and the thoroughbrace wagon would not hold all ; so I was 
left at home with two younger sisters to bother the hired girl , 
while the rest of the dozen went to the centennial. If any little Pe- 
terborians have been left at home to-day against their will, I hope 
they will harbor their resentment as long as I have harbored mine, 
and come hei-e to tell it fifty years from to-day. 

A picture comes to mind. The scene is the little, low, square, 
brick school house on "Winnie Row," old No. 9, where, only, I 
knew the district school . I see yourself, of a bright winter morning , 
clad, trousers and long frock, in the blue and white striped frock - 
ing of the period, made from wool grown on the farm, spun and 
woven in the home — all wool, a yard wide and no shoddy — warm 
as a mother's love and almost as enduring. I see you coming In , 
when the school is rapped to order, from your frolic in the snow, 
cheeks all aglow with health. You enter the door, turn to the left, 
march up one of those steep aisles, the hot breath puffing out of 
your mouth in gi'eat clouds, and congealing in an atmosphere not 
yet sufficiently tempered by a tardily kindled and reluctant fire — 
yourself and fully thirty like you. Gen. Ira Cross among them, 
takes his seat by my side, and I playfully cut with my hand 
the hot breath issuing from his mouth. It seems but yesterday. 



91 

LTp the opposite slope march as many red cheeked girls, or more — 
the fairest, save one, my eyes have ever rested on — clad in home- 
spun, woolen gowns. O, for one look to-day at the reality of this 
picture as it comes to me through the years. 

And what a responsibility rested on the Dartmouth freshman or 
sophomore who for the time being- presided over these three or 
four score youth. How reverently, sometimes mischievously, we 
looked up to him. 

"And still we gazed, and still the wonder grew. 
How one small head could carry all he knew." 

Nor did we fail to measure with keen eye the "ferule" which he 
brandished as an emblem of his authority. Nor yet the pile of 
goose quills on his desk, shaped into pens for our use by his skill- 
ful hands. How these pictures will come back to us. Nor those 
alone of the day school. Around the churches of Peterborough 
cluster a multitude of tender, arid some sacred memories. Three 
of the present church structures were erected in the half decade of 
which I speak, immediately following the centennial. It was an 
era of church building. With what interest we watched the pro- 
gi-ess of each and saw it dedicated with due solemnity. 

It was here after my return fi-om the academy, that I learned at 
the hands of a lamented brother of yours, but little my senior, the 
"art preservative.'' Here, too, with another lamented brother of 
yours as my model, I first felt the dignity and responsibility of 
saying "we" instead of "I." Eeceiving the Transcript at the 
hands of these, I turned it over, two years later, to yourself. 

The village lyceum, and debating societies; the dramatic ex- 
hibitions ; the spelling schools ; the wi'iting schools ; the singing 
schools, and for some, but not for me, the dancing schools. That 
single rope swing in front of the old academy on which we boys 
used to swing out at full length over the road and around the single 
tree upon the bank ; I wondered, as I looked to-day, if it can be 
the same lone tree that stands there still. The swing in the rear 
of the academy in which we used to swing the girls till we were 
out of breath; the big swing in the woods between the paper 
mill and the Wilder peg mill; the" games of ball upon the school 
house green; the parties where we sometimes "went to Rome": 
the sleigh rides ; Avhat wonders of sleigh rides Peterborough used 
to have — a hundred or a hundred and fifty couples at a time, on 
the road to Keene, with the merry jingle of bells and the merrier 
laugh of thrice a hundred voices. Our coasting and our skating 
days; the May trainings and the musters. I recall especially that 
muster of the old 22d regiment in September, 1844, with its visit- 
ing organizations— the Jaflfrcy Rifles and the Dublin Grenadiers of 
the old 12th regiment, and others from other regiments whose 
nanics I forget. The line at the morning dress parade extended 



92 

from the old Bell Factorj' down Main street to beyond the granite 
bridge. 

What forms, what voices do we thus recall. Who will deny us 
a sigh that they are gone forever? I would not call them back. 
The rough places of life might come with them. And its mis- 
takes; Avho would live them over? How fortunate it is that we 
live over and over and over again our joys, and forget our sorrows 
almost so soon as they are fled. The fittest survives, even in our 
memory. 

Peterborough has been fortunate, though I do say it, in the char- 
acter of its local press — clean, pure, wholesome, healthful, fit to be 
in the family through all its history. You cannot too highly prize 
it. I pity him and the community cursed by his presence, who, 
charged with the duty to say what shall and what shall not go in- 
to the local paper, forgets that tremendous consequences to some 
hang on the character of what he admits to its columns, and forgets 
that for the right discharge of his duty he is responsible to Almighty 
God. Dear old Transcript — at once my mother and my child; 
this heart of mine is ever yours. 

I rejoice to see that Peterborough faces the rising sun, and to 
note as evidence this commodious opera house and yonder school 
house. It would have been a pity to celebrate this day with the 
school house problem unsolved. It is up hill business — this facing 
the future. Sitting where we do, sir, turn which way we will, 
the incline is steep; the hills are all around. Yonder summit may 
be a trifle higher than the rest, but sunrise is over there. The 
founders of this village, as if to symbolize the spirit that was in 
them, buried their dead on the summit of sunrise hill. They 
seemed to say, "No rest till we reach the top." Men and women 
of Peterborough ! Would you be not degenerate sous and daugh- 
ters of noble sires and dames ? Then gather out of the past all that 
is best in it; but face the rising sun — your motto: ''No rest till 
you reach the top." 

In conclusion, permit me to read a few lines which, almost so 
soon as your kind invitation called these hallowed memories to 
mind, I had put into very imperfect verse, as embodying the 
thoughts which most possess me. 

Those Friends or Other Days. 

O,* where are the friends of my earlier days? 
Gone out through the world in devious ways. 
But, revered though never so widely apart, 
Those friends of my childhood are dear to my heart. 

Gone out through tlie world ? Some fallen by the way, 
And entered, alas! on eternity's day. 
Alas! did I say? O, why do we weep 
O'er friends of our childhood fallen asleep? 



93 

The joys of our springtime are ended and gone, 
And faded the visions that once were our own. 
With tread less elastic, and locks silvering o'er, 
We. too, are approaching the evergreen shore. 

But friends near at home and friends far away 

Are gathered this sesqui-centeunial day. 

To revive hallowed memories and join friendly hands, 

We are come from our homes in far and near lands. 

We are come from the South ; we are come from the North — 
Wherever life's duties have beckoned us forth. 
We are come from the East; we are come from the West, 
Bend o'er us, old friends, in the realms of the blest. 

Bend o'er us, old friends, though hidden from view. 
And with us, in spirit, old friendships renew. 
Though the days when we mingled are left far behind, 
It can never be true — "Out of sight, out of mind." 

'Mid feasting of reason and flowing of soul, 
Of the living and dead let us here call the roll ; 
Then, returned to life's duties, with vigor pursue 
Our way, as before us it opens to view. 

"We are gathering home, one by one." Be it ours 
With love and with goodness to fill up the hours. 
They shall pass swiftly o'er us — these few years to come; 
And the friends gone before us shall welcome us home. 

The Chairman : 

Mr. President: — It now gives me great pleasure to introduce 
to this assembly one of the oldest, most honored, and best loved of 
our native citizens ; one whose wise and pure counsel has bene- 
fitted all peoples who have been privileged to listen to his eloquent 
words ; one wiio having partially laid aside the mantle of labor, 
has come back to us as a citizen, and who was the orator of the 
day fifty years ago — the Rev. Dr. John H. ]Morison, whose topic 
will be, 

"Peterborough Homes." 

In his impromptu remarks Dr. Morison, in speaking of "our 
homes," quoted a sentiment given fifty years ago by Gen. James 
Miller, one of the two Peterborough men who gained what might 
be called a national reputation. The words quoted were, "May 
we encourage literature, revere religion, and love one another." 

"It would be difficult," he said, "to find words which, in a short 
compass, would better indicate the character of a Christian home, 
especially as illustrated by the home in which Gen. Miller had his 
early training. I remember the house in which his parents resided 
seventy-five years ago. It was a low, one story cottage, in size and 
shape very much like that in which Eobert Burns was born. 
His parents lived to be nearly 90 years old, and if they knew little 
of literature, they certainly excelled in the other qualities com- 
mended by their son. His reijutation was that of a soldier, but a 
man of a more reverent nature or a more tender heart could not 
be found. The home into wliich he was born was admirablv fitted 



94 

to cherish such a spirit and to form such a character. And the 
home in wliich he lived after he retired from the g-overnorship 
of Alabama was marked by the same simple habits and kindly af- 
fections as long as he or his children lived. 

In like manner the only other sou of Peterborough who gained a 
national rojjutation, was born in a home fitted to call out the great 
(jualities of mind and character for wliicii he was distiiiguished. 
The father was a mild, thoughtful, upriglit man, liberal in many- 
ways, but especially so in his ideas of family governmc^nt. leaving 
to his children a wide margin for freedom of thought and action, 
where tliey were left to decide for themselves. His wife was of a 
more impulsive and authoritative disposition. If, as one who re- 
membered her well once said to me, "She kept the scold a going," 
it came not so much from a bad temper as from an excess of ener- 
gy, which must find relief in some kind of forcible utterance. 
Like most persons of that generation, she spoke in a strongly 
marked Scotch dialect, and was always ready with a keen repartee. 
When iier son, having got a little book learning, undertook to 
comment on his mother's ungrammatical language, she sharply re- 
plied: "But wha taught you language? It was my wheel; and 
when ye'U hae spun as many lang three threads to teach me gram- 
mar as I hae to teach you, I'll talk better grammar." 

There was a keen sense of humor in the household, and nothing 
called it out so unmercifully as the presence of anything mean or 
dishonest. There was great intellectual activity among all the chil- 
dren, but especially with Jeremiah, who in his early years was 
haunted by an overpowering longing for knowledge. The boy 
would sometimes walk off four or five miles in quest of a book, and 
make himself in no small measure, master of its contents on his 
way back. Books were scarce. But in his home tliere was one 
book looked uj) to with reverence by them all. And that book, ap- 
pealing to what is deepest and highest in our nature, did more than 
all others, not only to color but to create, the atmosphere of 
thought, emotion and affection in which they lived, and by which 
their characters were formed. 

Such Avas the home in which he had his early training, and the 
home in which he lived when he retired from the active business 
of life was pre-eminently distinguished by all the characteristics of 
which I have spoken. It was my great privilege in early youth to 
be received as a member of Judge Smith's family. His sou was 
a man of rare intellectual endowments and personal attractions, 
and his daughter was endowed in a remarkable degree with the 
virtues, the intellectual attainments, the affections and graces 
which em-ich and adorn a Christian home, while he himself was al- 
ways looked up to with filial reverence as the soui-ce and object of 
loving devotion. But in one short season, when he was nearly sev- 
enty years old, all his family, his wife, his daughter and his son. 



95 

were taken from him, and he was left in the world alone. But af- 
terward the home Avas renewed. A wife, even more richh' en- 
dowed than the daughter had been, was placed at the head of the 
household. Never had its beneticent intluences on its inmates, oi- 
on those who from without were drawn to it, been more richly 
felt. And the last years of that great man's life, cheered and 
helped as he was by the angel at his side, were even more blessed 
than those which had gone before. 

Here, under more favoi-able auspices, Avith larger means and op- 
portunities, was the natural expansion or evolution of the early 
Peterborough home. Those homes, scattered as they were thiough- 
out the town — no one knew them better than I did as a boy. There 
was liomely fare, and a plenty of hard work. But there Avere the 
hardy virtues, the tender affections, the devout reverence, the 
thoughtful habits, the contentment, the sweetness and the light, 
which may give encouragement and life and growth to all that is 
holiest and best in our nature. From such homes in the darkest 
days of our rebellion came forth the valor and the worth which 
saved the nation. When, after the terrible disasters of the second 
Bull Run, I found that sixty-two young men from the homes 
of this small town had offered themselves, I no longer had any 
doubt as to the result of the war. These homes, and such as 
they, have been so associated with all that is dearest to us, and 
in their very poverty so richly endowed with all that should be 
most precious and sacred, that I would say of them, as I heard 
Daniel Webster say, the tears rolling down his cheeks as he spoke, 
that *I can hardly think of them without emotion, or speak of them 
without tears.' So long as such homes continue, our country, its 
churches, its schools, its laws and its liberties are safe." 

The speaker closed witli a few words to illustrate the tender and 
softening influences of these homes. 

The Chairman : 

It is an old and oft repeated saying that the "Press is mightier 
than the sword." I will call upon John Scott, Esq., of the Tran- 
script to respond to the toast, 

"The Local Press." 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — The history of the 
press of Peterborough is almost spanned by my lifetime. At the 
centennial celebration there was no local newspaper, and previous 
to that time but two small journals had sustained a brief and pre- 
carious existence. In the absence of the newspaper, the post office, 
the corner store, and the ladies* sewing circle, were the principal 
mediums for disseminating the news of the day, and with com- 
mendable zeal and fidelity was the self-imposed task performed. 

The first newspaper in town was printed in the old Joel Brown 
store building, near the granite bridge, bv Wni. P. and John S. 



96 

Dunbar. Its first number appeared in the latter part of 1829. under 
the somewhat top heavy title of '•'■The Ililhhord' Republican and 
New Hampshire Clarion.''^ It was a small sheet, well edited by 
Rev. Elijah Dunbar, and closed its existence April 29, 1831, at the 
age of about one year and five months. 

The second Paper was ^^The Fha'iiix Gazette," printed by Miller 
& Bradbury, in the year 1832, previous to ihe election of Andrew 
Jackson to his second term of the presidency. It was a warm sup- 
porter of his administration. The names of the committee of the 
opposing party, were Timothy K. Ames and Timothy Fox. The 
principal traders in the place at that time were "Brown & Wilson," 
"Smith & Tiiompson,'' and "Wm. H. Rodgers." Ashley Loriiig 
was the "hatter," and Jonathan Locke of Greenfield, "cloth dress- 
er." The following editorial is a specimen of the political feeling 
of those days: 

On which side of the fence is Deacon Boylston now? We ask for in- 
formition, for really we supposed from appearance tliat the Deacon 
liad <;<)t into the wrf)n<jj ppiv. There is comfort for him however now — 
a crumb of consolation from the Antimasonic election in Pennsylvania. 
What do you tliink, Deacon, of antiniasonry. Is it not beautiful to see 
"Kindred and friends ar/ree each?" 

The t'lay men say it' Penn., if New York, if Ohio, if Kentucky, if 
Vermont, and if a dozen more States vote for anti-.Jackson electors, 
and if all the antimason and federal electors vote for Clay he will be 
elected. So if the comet should happen to lisht on the top of Monad- 
nock Movmtain and flourish his fiery tail tor ten miles round, there 
would be but little use for candles in Dublin and .Jatfrey. One if is as 
yood as another. 

Of the length of the life of this publication we have no record, 
but it must have been brief, probablj^ closing with the political 
campaign. 

The tlurd newspaper, and not the second, as stated in the Histo- 
ry of Peterborough, Avas a little sheet published by S. P. Brown, 
and was called "The Peterfwronr/h Messenr/er." It was started in 
the summer of 1847, but after an existence of ten months, died, 
like its predecessors, of that ever popular cause of death — heart 
failure. 

The collapse of The 3Iessencier found its proprietor indebted to 
John P. 'Miller, our worthy President of the Day. for a somewhat 
extended service as journeyman printer. After waiting a time 
with patience, or, possibly, impatience, for his pay, Mr. Miller 
levied an execution upon the oflice, which came into his posession 
at a price smaller than the sum claimed in the writ; and to this day 
the balance of $150, with interest, remains unpaid, unless per- 
chance, Mr. Miller considers the honor of having been the founder 
of the Transcript as full equivalent for the debt. 

Admitting Kendall C. Scott to ])artnership in the fall of 1848, 
job work failing to occupy the lime of both, the publication of 
'■'■The Contoocook Transcript" was commenced on Saturday, June 
2, 1849, under the firm name of Miller & Scott, adopting as their 



97 

motto, ''The Faithful are certain of their Reward." The paper 
from the start was a live one, and many of its editorials would 
have done credit to a more pretentious sheet. 

[A copy of Vol. I., No. 4, of the Contoocook Transcript, printed Sat- 
urday, June 28, 1849, and heavily draped in mourning for President 
James K. Polk, v^^ho died the Sunday previous, was exhibited to the 
audience.] 

In May, 1851, K. C. Scott became sole proprietor, and he in turn 
a year or two later sold out to Elias H. Cheney, who had just com- 
pleted his apprenticeship in the office. It was during Mr. Cheney's 
administration that the motto was changed to "We'll Try, Sir." 

Upon closing his connection with the Transcript, Mr. Miller 
worked as journeyman printer about six mo nths in the state of 
New York, after which he returned to Peterborough, deserted the 
craft, and became a dispenser of drugs, in which occupation he 
still continues. From a financial point of view his course was a 
wise one, for squills, pills, poultices, plasters, ipecac, Epsom salts, 
castor oil, calomel, and kindred luxuries the masses will have, but 
it is only the more intellectual and cultured people who feel that 
the newspaper is indispensable. 

March 7, 1855, Charles Scott became sole proprietor, and contin- 
ued to fill the editorial chair until November 20, 1856, when K. C. 
Scott again purchased the office, which remained in his possession 
until November 18, 1865, when your humble servant was admitted 
to partnership, and March 1st, 1866, bargained for the other half of 
the business. March 3, 1866, the Transcriqjt was issued by John 
Scott & Co., the "Co." being more a myth than a reality. 

Before another week had rolled round, however, a partnership 
had been formed between Joseph Farnum and myself. Since that 
time we have continued to work in double harness, and to-day, 
if I mistake not, as members of the firm of Farnum & Scott, we 
represent the oldest business partnership in town. 

With the exception of the time when Mr. Cheiiey presided over 
its destinies, some member of my family has been connected with 
the Transcript , and it Avas for many years a fondly cherished hope 
that I might some day be succeeded by one of my progeny, but the 
death of my sunny-faced, happy-hearted little boy renders it hardly 
probable that the name of Scott will much longer be connected 
with your local newspaper. 

The last motto which graced the first page of the Transcript, and 
adopted by K. C. Scott, was "Our Local Interests," and from first 
to last we believe that our local interests have been zealously pro- 
moted by its several proprietors. 

Permit me to read briefly from an article from the pen of E. H. 
Cheney, and published January 4, 1854. AVhile discussing the best 
means of promoting the business prosperity of the town he says: 



98 

We cannot help t.innking, that if Peterborough does not reach that 
degree of prosperity which, a few years ago, slie seemed destined to en- 
joy, she must take to herself all the blame. If our business men would 
interest themselves in this matter, and make one-half the exertions 
that are made in many places which we could mention, not a single 
year would pass without changing the entire aspect of things in Peter- 
borough. We believe that with no extraordinary eifort, and without 
any great outlay of capital, much of our water power might be used to 
great advantage, and made to advance the best interests of the town. 
But our main object in writing this article is to direct the attention of 
our wealthy citizens, and owners of real estate to one branch of manu- 
facturing business which might be carried on here successfully, and 
tend as much as anything else to improve the value of their property, 
and give an increased impulse to all kinds of business. W^e allude to the 
manufacture of shoes. This appears to be just the place for carrying 
on this business on a large scale, and we have often wondered that the 
matter did not arrest the attention of those whom we know to be anx- 
ious to promote the best interests of the town. 

''All things come to those who wait/' and Mr. Cheney is here to 
see our town blessed, and not cursed as some would have it, with 
a grand shoe manufacturing establishment. 

That tlie tone of the Transcrii)t has always been loyal and pat- 
riotic none will deny. Its position at the breaking out of the war 
is briefly stated in the following short extracts from an editorial 
written one week before the fall of Sumter by a brother of mine 
who has since passed to the silent majority : 

AVe are persistently and unequivocally for ])eace in every contingency, 
but one. The South may unite under the confederate constitution — 
may throw all protection over chattel slavery that they can — may legis- 
late that it is right in principle and practically advantageous to the 
States — may bring to the stake and halter every abolitionist that is un- 
fortunate enough to be caught in their midst — may shackle free speech 
and a free press — in fine may establish, strengthen and perpetuate the 
vilest, most absolute and relentless despotism there is on the face of 
the earth — and still we are for peace. ji^ * * * * The 
only contingency in which war will be justifiable, will be when the 
safety and preservation of the great principles of human brotlierhood 
and equality established by the revolutionary struggle demand it. Let 
the wolves and hyenas howl so long as they do not attack us, but when 
they have shed one drop of the blood of the patriots who still stand 
firm and brave under the folds of the flag of their country, preferring 
death in its defence to desertion, it will be time for the great heart of 
the nation to quicken its jiulsations, and patriotic union-loving freemen 
of the North to stiffen their sinews for the conflict. 

That these words echoed the patriotic sentiment of this commu- 
nity — peace at any cost, save dishonor — the names on the bronze 
tablet in yonder grove, the graves we annually decorate, and the 
mimber here who wear the veteran's badge, give ample testimony. 
Of the Transcript under its present administration I will not speak. 
It is familiar to you, being a weekly visitor in most of your homes. 
Many of yon have been subscribers from the first issue until the 
present time. Long may it continue to be worthy of your sup- 
port. 

The Chairman : 
I will now call upon W. D. Chase, M.D., to respond to the toast, 



99 

''The Medical Profession." 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — AV^hat the world has 
accomplished duriiig- the past fifty years is a question of great in- 
terest, and the answer returned is full of gratification. 

Perhaps in no period in the world's history has such a great 
revolution taken place in the industrial, mechanical, political and 
social conditions, as during the past five decades. The spirit of in- 
quiry and investigation has entered into every art and science. 
In no department has there been more painstaking experiments 
and patient investigation than in the art and science of medicine. 
Time will not allow me even to hint at the discoveries made as to 
the minute structure of the human body, of the physiology of the 
brain, the wonderful achievements of surgery, the knowledge of 
the causes of diseases and the laws that govern them. Most of 
the progress of the world is accomplished by slow, patient toil and 
study, but 0(!casionally there appears a genius who opens up new 
fields of discoveries and investigation. Of such a genius is M. 
Pasteur of Paris. His attention was called to the subject of the 
fermentation of beer and wine. He found that the change called 
fermentation was caused by the growth of a micro-organism 
that lived upon some element in the wine until that element was 
consumed. He found the process of putrefaction was brought 
about by the same process. As soon as the life passes out of an 
animal organism it is fallen upon by myriads of organisms that live 
upon it until it is all consumed. This and other discoveries, similar 
in character, led the French government to ask Pasteur to inves- 
tigate the cause of the disease that was destroying the silk-worm. 
The silk culture is a great industry in the south of France. Some 
disease had fallen upon the w'orm, and the industry w^as threat- 
ened with ruin. Various theories were advanced as to the cause of 
the disease, and hundreds of remedies suggested, but nothing was 
of any avail. 

Pasteur found that this disease was caused by a micro-organism 
that lived and flourished upon the worm until it was destroyed. 
No curative means could be found, but there are to be seen in all 
of the silk worm nurseries in France to-day boys and girls with 
microscopes examining the moth and their eggs, and all of the un- 
healthy ones are destroyed. The silk industry of France was thus 
preserved. 

Time will not permit us to speak of the woi'k he accomplished 
in the study of splenic fever which was rapidly destroying the 
cattle and sheep of P^rance, and the means he suggested to stay the 
disease or his more recent w'ork in hydrophobia, but sulfice it to 
say that he opened a field in which others have entered with fruit- 
ful results. 

It is a generally adopted theory, to-day, that Infectious diseases 
are caused bv living organisms. In fact Koch of Berlin has es- 



100 

tablishecl the fact that consumption is caused by a baccillus that 
lives and flourishes upon the human organism. Curative measures 
in infectious diseases may never be found, but preventative means 
will be, and wide spread plagues and epidemics will be things of 
the past. 

I have spoken more particularly of the work of Pasteur to show 
the line of investigation at tlie present time, and the beneficent re- 
sults that may be expected from it. 

I wish very briefly to speak of the physicians who filled this field 
for a large portion of the last fifty years: Drs. William Follans- 
bee, Albert Smith, and Daniel B. Cutter, men who ever took a 
deep interest in the educational, religious, financial and social af- 
fairs of the town. 

Dr. Follansbee commenced his practice in town in 1826, and died 
in 1867. He was a good physician and an upright man. A man 
of good judgment and of rare tact and ability. 

Dr. Smith commenced his practice in town in 1838, and died in 
1878. He was a man of wide cultui'e and attainments. He was 
not only familiar with the literature of his own profession but in 
general literature. He was professor in the medical department at 
Dartmouth college for twenty-three years. He contributed arti- 
cles to the medical journals and medical societies, but his chief 
literary work was as historian of his native town, Peterborough, 
which does credit to his painstaking investigation and scholarlv 
tastes. He came of a family noted for theii- intellectual ability 
and high moral character, and well did Dr. Smith maintain the 
good name of the family. 

Dr. Cutter, who, I am pleased to say, is still with us, commenced 
his practice in town in 1833, but on account of infirmities and ad- 
vancing years has not been in active work for some time. He 
was a good physician and an honorable man. He has given some 
attention to literary matters, being the author of the history of his 
native town, Jaffrey, N. H., which does credit to his patient re- 
search and literary ability. Long may he live to enjoy the fruits 
of an honorable career. 

Of the successors of these physicians we shall refrain from speak- 
ing, leaving their merits or demerits to be spoken of by others, 
only hoping that they may leave behind them as honorable a name 
and record as their predecessors. 

The Chairman : 

Peterborough has given to the practise of law many eminent men 
who have honored the profession and been a credit to the town. I 
will ask Gen. D. M. White to respond to the sentiment, 
*'TiiK Lawyers of Peterborough. " 

Mu. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — Peterborough is the 
land of my birth. Her babbling brooks and rushing rivers, her 



101 

green pastures and flowery meadows, her beautiful valleys and 
grand old hills, are ever suggesting happy incidents of my boy- 
hood days. The farm and the school are remembered as an 
epoch filled brim full with hard work and trials, while the office. 
the struggle for success, the business responsibility, mark periods 
of sterner realities which are ever filling my mind with vivid recol- 
lections of later days. The reminiscences of the grand old town, 
the memory of her social and industrious people who have been 
my associates in business and pleasure, the happiness that has 
clustered around a happy home with a loving wife and dear chil- 
dren in it, awakens in my heart on this centennial day, when ab- 
sent sons and daughters return to the land of their nativity for a 
reunion of hearts and an interchange of greetings, thoughts which 
lend a charm to my whole life, although those memories and 
associations are not unalloyed with grief and sadness. Here I 
have spent the greater part of mj' life. I am proud to be recorded 
as one of the sons of this town, so many of whom have distin- 
guished themselves in all of the learned professions and in all the 
trades and callings of active business life. 

It is now one hundred and fifty years since Peterborough was 
incorporated as a town and assumed all the advantages and was 
vested with all the rights and privileges of a municipalitj^, accord- 
ed to New Hampshire townships at that time. Fifty years ago the 
good people then living who had been identified with the interests 
and instrumental in developing the growth and progress of Peter- 
borough, assembled to celebrate in a commendable way the results 
of the labor and enterprise of her citizens during the first one hun- 
dred years. The success that had been attained, the prosperity 
that had been acquired, and the happiness that had been enjoyed 
was not accomplished by any one class of her citizens. The minis- 
ters, the doctors, the tradesmen, the manufacturers, the farmers, 
the artisans, the laborers — even the lawyers — and last but not least, 
the noble women of those early days — the true wives and fond 
mothers of that period — were all contributors to the success and all 
were common recipients of those blessings which their frugality 
and industry secured. We have now reached the milestone of the 
third half century, and we have come together on this beautiful au- 
tumnal da J', beneath a bright sun and a clear sky, surrounded on ev- 
ery hand by the gorgeous beauty of a landscape of which none but 
a New Englander can boast, and which none but the hand of God 
can present, to celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversa- 
ry of this grand old town, with its picturesque beauty, nestling as 
it does in this charming valley on either side of our Contoocook, 
stretching far up on the hillside in every direction, to cele- 
brate this epoch in a manner, I trust, as becomes a sober, thought- 
ful, industrious, God fearing, liberty loving, law abiding people. 

The history of our town has been written. In it has been told 



102 

the story of her professional, industrial and social affairs of life. 
Many of us know that story by heart, while some of you who 
are assembled here today have had the good fortune of a personal 
acquaintance with many of the progressive men and women who 
have moved the wheels of industry at home, and with other of her 
sons and daughters who were raised and instructed here, and then 
went forth into other towns and states and become true and wor- 
thy representatives of the hardy and enterprising stock from 
which they sprang, and whose influence of mind, and strength of 
muscle, and force of character, and goodness of purpose, has been 
felt and recognized in the march of progress, as a power in edu- 
cational interests, in the learned professions, and in all the varied 
and industrial pursuits of life wherever they may have been. 

What a panorama of social, local and national events is pre- 
sented to our mind though we are removed only one hundred and 
fifty years from the incorporation of the town, as we look back 
over this period of time and I'eview our history. One hundred 
and fifty years embracing the lifetime of several generations, yet 
it is but the morning hour of the day that is to come in nieasuring 
the duration of our Republic and the glory and grandeur it is to 
attain. AVhat hopes and fears have crowded in upon the hearts 
and minds of the people who have lived in this valley and dwelt 
upon our everlasting hills ; how many fond hopes must have been 
shattered, how many realized; what hardships and privations en- 
dured incident to a new home in a primeval forest; the encroach- 
ment of the home government upon the rights our fathers sought 
to establish in the New World ; the perilous act and uncertain re- 
sult of secession from the mother country; the declaration of 
independence, the war of the Revolution culminating in victory; 
the dawn of peace ; the establishment of the National Government 
under the Constitution; the bloody and sanguinary wars with the 
Indians; the war of 1812 which resulted in securing the honor 
of the American flag on land and sea, teaching England a lesson 
which was as costly to her as it was humiliating, that the rights 
and liberties of American citizens which were acquired as the re- 
sult of the Revolution, were forever to be I'espected and recognized ; 
the establishment of the Monroe doctrine, in which the people 
of the United States said to all the world, "lay not your hands ruth- 
fully upon us," and which has ever since been recognized as a well 
defined principle of American diplomacy; the war with Mexico, 
which w^as brought to an early and successful termination, result- 
ing in extensive and valuable acquisitions to the United States, 
extending our boundaries from ocean to ocean, the agitation of the 
slavery question; the Avar of the Rebellion, a cruel conflict waged 
on the one hand by a deluded, misguided people for the establish- 
ment of a precept, wicked in its conception and felonious in pur- 
pose, and resisted on the other hand by the valor and patriotism 



103 

of a brave and determined people ; a war in which more brave 
men were sacrificed on the field of battle, and more wealth ex- 
pended and property destroyed in carrying on the conflict for the 
preservation and perpetuation of self government than has been 
lost and expended in all the wars from the days when Napoleon 
left the field of AVaterloo. 

Great financial embarrassments have marked with a black letter 
difFerent periods of our country's existence, wrecking commercial 
enterprise, while a thousand and one trials have beset our prog- 
ress, under which a nation of less will and perseverance than the 
American people would have ignominiously failed. To-day how 
diflerent are the circumstances of this generation. We look out 
upon our beautiful and happy homes, our productive farms, our 
domestic and thriving manufactories. We also look out upon a 
country made busy and active with the lives of sixty -five millions 
of people who are at peace within themselves and with the whole 
civilized world ; and as we look about us, and behold with pride 
and admiration what our ancestors have produced here in Peterbo- 
rough and know how well they wrought, when we take a broader 
view and partially comprehend what has been accomplished in 
our country, when we realize that this local thrift and progress, 
and all of these great national events and local achievements which 
have changed the circumstances and conditions of the whole hu- 
man race, and influenced for the better all the nations of the earth, 
have transpired, and been accomplished since the day when the 
first adventurous pioneer invaded the wilderness that darkened 
these waters and shaded these hillsides, and whose ax was then 
heard ringing up and down these valleys, opening up the forests 
and letting in the sunlight of God to warm and kiss the earth 
which had nev( r been disturbed, making it a fit and beautiful 
place for the comfort and abode of man — when we comprehend all 
this I say, notwithstanding our ambition and enthusiasm, our 
heai'ts command us to halt on this 150th anniversary of our incor- 
poration as a town ; sober minded reflection also commands us to- 
day to stand still, for a daj^, to turn the mind backward, and as we 
review our history, and listen to the story of this people, we find 
that Peterborough has indeed just cause to be proud of her sons 
and daughters. 

They might have been seen and may now be found occupying 
honorable positions in all the industrial and professional callings 
of an active and busy life. Her sturdy and honest yeomanry, her 
ingenious mechanics and skilled artisans are inferior to none. The 
doctors she has produced have stood high in their profession. Her 
learned ministers of the gospel as a rule have been earnest workers 
in the cause of Christianity, and consistent men walking above re- 
proach. Peterborough has a right to celebrate over the events ac- 
complished by her children whether at home or abroad, because 



104 

they have been identified with tlie history and development of the 
whole country. Why, sir, we are lost, actually lost in wonder and 
amazement at the thought of what tliis young- Republic has accom- 
plished in this short time. It is a waste of time to talk about the 
weakness and instability of a republic. Since the organization of 
our government, kingdoms and empires have virtually vanished 
from the face of the earth, and republics have sprung up and are now 
flourishing on the same soil. Thrones and dynasties have crum- 
bled and fallen into oblivion, and yet the American republic to- 
day is the strongest, the wealthiest, the best, most acceptable gov- 
ernment on the face of God's whole earth. She is growing 
stronger and stronger every day by the virtue, wisdom, and 
good sense of her people. She is making wonderful progress in 
everything pertaining to civilization. She is developing her won- 
derful natural resources. Her vast mountains of gold, silver, cop- 
per, coal, lead, iron and granite are being made to yield up their 
treasure of wealth for the use and benefit of man. Her great 
manufactories, watched over by the most heroic and sagacious 
business men of the age, aided by the keenest ingenuity of the 
human mind, are outstripping the manufactories of the old world. 
She is rich in intellectual and moral worth, in her educational and 
scientific attainments, which are layingbroad and deep the founda- 
tion for permanent self government, around which the storms of 
local passion and prejudice can play with harmless imimnity, and 
against which the assaults of the combined nations of the earth 
cannot prevail. It is marvellous, Mr. President, to contemplate. 
It is wonderful to behold ! 

You have listened to-day fellow citizens to pleasing and eloquent 
I'cmarks from gentlemen speaking upon subjects and institutions 
connected with Peterborough, which are and always have been of 
great interest to us — her schools, her muanufa(;turing and indus- 
trial pursuits, her military record, her Irish American citizens, her 
doctors, her ministers, the early homes and mothers of Peterbo- 
rough, all of which have been powerful factors and controlling 
agencies in our progress and development. To me, Mr. Chairman, 
you have assigned the honor and agreeable duty of speaking for 
another class of our fellow citizens, a class who are always able to 
speak for themselves, and always willing to speak for others when 
well paid for it; a class who are not to be, and who from the very 
nature of their calling and their existence among you, never can be 
forgotten, a class who have done more, if I may be pardoned for 
being egotistical, not for myself, but for the whole fraternity, 
for the material, to say nothing about the spiritual i)rosperi- 
ty of the town than any one class of her citizens, and which has 
been done in that self sacrificing, gracious, unbegrudging manner 
that always commends itself to a Christian community, yet, as a 
matter of fact, and in order to save a contradiction of my state- 



105 

ment upon a point, which in itself is quite natural and cannot bc 
successfiiUy defended, I am willing- to concede, that while they 
have been honored and trusted servants of the conununitj', thej^ 
have been only human, and most generally, when serving public 
and private enterprise with what they have had, which has princi- 
pally been, ''undivided support" and "gratuitous advice," have had 
an eye open for themselves, sometimes, of course, just the same as 
the doctors and ministers have! I refer to and am speaking of 
•'The Lawyers of Peterborough," and I suppose, Mr. President 
and fellow citizens, that in listening to what I have said, you have 
been asking yourselves, what has all this to do with the lawyers of 
Peterborough, or what have the lawyers of Peterborough had to 
do with all this? AYhy, sir, they have had a great deal to do with 
all this. In the brief time allowed me in Avhich to prepare to 
speak for this profession, I have been unable to procure facts and 
dates such as would enable me to do justice to the learning, ability 
and character of each one of them individuallj^, so instead of fol- 
lowing the old stereotyped way of saying good things about good 
men, I have referred to the progress, development and prosperity 
of our town and nation in a general way, embracing principles 
almost entii-ely of a public character, instead of dwelling upon in- 
dividual characteristics of those men, and in that way speak words 
of praise and commendation of the "Lawyers of Peterborough" 
by showing that they have contributed toward all this, and have 
to a greater or less degree been instrumental in accomplishing 
these great and grand results. 

My fellow citizens, go back with me to 1777, and we tind the boy 
Jerry Smith fighting the battles of his country at Bennington, and 
in 1787 after having been educated at Harvard and Eutger's Col- 
leges we find him practicing law in this town as the first lawyer 
who settled here, where he remained ten years, and it is said of 
him, and to his credit, that he never found time to encom-age or 
to engage in the petty law suits of the citizens, which, according to 
all accounts were numerous and often bitter. While he remained 
in Peterborough he served three terms in the State legislature, 
during which time he revised the laws of New Hampshire. He 
was a conspicuous member of the convention which framed the 
present State constitution. In 1790 he was elected as representa- 
tive to the second congress of the United States, being elected to 
that ofiice during four successive terms, serving with distinction 
through the most important ])eriod of our country's history. In 
171*7 he was appointed United States District Attorney for New 
Hampshire. In 1800 he was appointed Judge of Probate for Rock- 
ingham County. In 1801 he was appointed Judge of tlie United 
States Circuit Court for the District of New Hampshire. In 1802 
he was appointed Chief Justice of the Sui)erior Court of Jiulicature 
in New Hampshire, which ofRce he held until ISO!), when he was 



106 

chosen Govcrnoi' of the State. In 1810 he resumed his practice at 
the bar, and in 1813 was again appointed Chief Justice of New 
Hampshire, and continued in office until 1816, at which time, after 
a conspicuous and honorable career, he withdrew from public life 
and ag'ain resumed his profession, which he followed until 1820, 
and then retired from active practice. He died in 1842 at the age 
of eighty-two years. As a lawyer, legislator, judge of probate, judge 
of the District Court of the United States, chief justice of the 
Superior Court of New Hampshire, governor, and representative 
in Congress, his acts and deeds shine forth prominently and clear- 
ly in the history of the State. He was truly "a sage of the law,'' 
without doubt was one of the ablest men New Hampshire ever 
produced, and above all and over all, he was a citizen of stainless 
character and an honest man. Such, briefly told, was the brilliant 
and honorable career of the first lawyer who ever practiced in 
Peterborough. Now my friends, if you will follow me down 
through the generations from that time to the present, a period of 
one hundred and two years, you will be able to catch a bird's eye 
view of what the '^Lawyers of Peterborough" have done, how they 
have been engaged, and many of you knowing them as you have, 
can gather some inspiration from the active lives and honorable 
deeds of the men for whom I am speaking. 

Since the days of Jeremiah Smith to the i)resent time there have 
been seventeen lawyers located in Peterborough, viz. : Jeremiah 
Smith, James Wilson, Stephen P. Steele, James AYalker, Artemas L. 
Holmes, David J. Clark, Edward S. Cutter, Charles G. Cheney. 
George A. Ramsdell,. Cornelius V. Dearborn, Albert S. Scott, 
Eugene Lewis, Riley B. Hatch, Ezra M. Smith, Frank G. Clarke, 
James F. Brennan and myself. Of this number seven of them, 
viz.: Jeremiah Smith, James Wilson, Stephen P. Steele, Artemas 
L. Holmes, Albert S. Scott, James F. Brennan, and myself are na- 
tives of the town. 

To sum up what they have done during the one hundred and two 
years, I am only able to speak of their lives and character, of their 
social, public and private qualities as men, and allude to their 
work and worth in a general way, because it is my purpose at 
this time to speak in an individual manner of the learning and 
abilitj'' of but a few of these men, and the uprightness with which 
they have discharged the varied duties and responsible trusts 
which their fellow citizens have called upon them to perform. 

Prominent among the fi^rst lawyers who practiced in Peterbo- 
rough and who followed immediately after Jeremiah Smith, was 
James Wilson, a native of this town. He was born August 16, 
1766, and graduated from Harvard College in 1789. He read law 
with Judge Lincoln of AYorcester and Judge Jeremiah Smith of 
Peterborough, and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 
1702 and conunenced practicM3 in Peterborough, where he remained 



107 

for twenty-three years, after which, in 1815 he removed to Kcene. 
He was a man and a lawyer of no ordinary ability and won for 
himself by his tact, legal acumen, and fidelity to his clients, an en- 
viable reputation among the lawyers, not only in Hillsborough 
aud Cheshire Counties where he had an extensive pi'actice, but 
throughout the State. For thirteen consecutive years he repre- 
sented this town in the popular branch of the legislature, which of 
itself is a compliment, proclaiming to this and succeeding genera- 
tions the confidence that his fellow citizens had in his integrity 
and ability. Pie was also elected to the eleventh congress by the 
Federalists in 1809, but served only one term as about that time the 
Federalist party began to lose its power and influence. He died 
at Keene, N. H., in 1849, aged seventy-three j-ears, honored and 
respected by all who knew him. 

Stephen P. Steele is another of the pioneer lawyers of Peterbo- 
rough. He was born in this town July 26, 1784, graduated at 
Williams college in 1809, read law in the office of James Wilson 
in Peterborough, and practiced his profession here from the time 
he was admitted to the bar, about 1812, until about the time of his 
death in 1857. He represented the town in the legislature two 
years, and served as a delegate to the constitutional convention in 
1850. He was a lawyer of fair ability and always evinced a lively 
interest in the affairs of Peterborough. 

James Walker, a son of Peterborough by adoption, was another 
conspicuous character in the legal fraternity of the town. Born in 
Rindge in 1784, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1804. 
He came to Peterborough in 1814 and began the practice of law, 
which he continued with success until the time of his death, which 
occurred in 1854. He was a man who stood eminent in his pro- 
fession, a man of brains and intellectual ability, with a strong 
mind and unbending force of purpose. He was a man whom 
many of the older inhabitants remember well. Many of you re- 
member him I presume, partially on account of his quaint unyield- 
ing mind, uncommon traits of character, and freaks of eccentric 
habits peculiar to James Walker alone, and partially from his good 
citizenship, his true worth as a friend and sterling integrity as a man. 
From what I have been able to learn about Mr. AValker, which has 
been obtained principally from some of the older residents, I am 
happily led to believe, that he was indeed one of the remarkable 
men of his age and generation, and I regret that nowhere have I 
been able to find a just and suitable record of this man who was so 
long identified with the interests of Peterborough, except that his- 
tory which is recorded in the hearts of his fellow citizens who had 
the good fortune to serve on the stage of active life with him, and 
therefore knew him best. The unqualified verdict of these people 
is, that he always identified himself with whatever seemed for the 
interest of Peterborough, and in all such matters, whether public 



108 

or private, liis sound judgement was ahvaj's souglit and his wise 
counsel always followed. For forty years this man practiced 
among his neighbors and fellow townsmen, a profession which 
many people unjustly repute as unquestionably bad, if not abso- 
lutely disreputable, and yet, at the end of that time so honorable 
and ui)riglit had been his life and dealings witli his fellow men that 
he closed the door of his oifice behind him and went home to lie 
down and die among the people with whom he had spent an active and 
conspicuous life without an enemy in the whole community. He 
was a man who carried influence and conviction with him because 
of his honesty of purpose and personal disinterestedness, a man of 
whom much more can be said than I would be justified in saying 
at this time, and I can do no more and say no less than by closing 
with the j)lain, ungarnished statement which I know will be en- 
dorsed by all who knew him, that ichatever he did, whatever he 
said, and ivherever he went, whether in public or private af- 
fairs, whether in the practice of his profession or in social and 
personal relations with his fellow beings, he was actuated by un- 
selfish motives, uninfluenced for personal gain, and was al- 
ways found on the side of right, trutli and justice, standing head 
and shoulders above other men of greater pretentions. What 
greater tribute can be paid a man, what more can a man desire 
when he is ready to lie down and die after a long and useful life, 
than a statement like this, coming as it does from the hearts of a/l 
the people, as their honest, unqualitied verdict of their respect and 
esteem of the man, who has not only been their friend and neigh- 
bor, but their counsellor and adviser for forty years in all the 
trials and vicissitudes incident to public and private life? 

Artemas L. Holmes, a native of this town, was a graduate froin 
Dartmouth in 1835, read law, and after being admitted to the bar. 
practiced a short time in Peterborough, then went to 8t. Louis 
wliere he practiced a number of years, then removed to New York 
('ity where he died in 1871. David J. Clark was also a lawyer in 
this town at one time, but 1 have been unable to learn any thing- 
very definitely of him here or his career elsewhere. Edward S. 
Cutter is another lawj'er who deserves special mention, and who 
is well remembered by many of the older people now living. I do 
not remember Avhen Mr. Cutter was a citizen of Peterborough, my 
acquaintance witli him dating from about the time I was admitted 
to the bar in 1874. Tie was a native of Jafl'rey and graduated from 
Dartmouth College in 1844, and was principal of Peterborough 
Academy for two years after, from 1844 to 1846, proving himself 
to be a thorough and i)o])ular teacher. He then began the study of 
law which lie pursued until ISI'J in the office of Hon. James Walk- 
er of P(!terboroug]i and Judge Daniel Clark of Manchester. In 
1849 when he was admitted to the Hillsborough County bar he be- 
gan his practice in Petex'borougli, where he continued and enjoyed 



109 

a large and ever increasing business until 1858, when he removed 
to.Amlicrst to assume the duties of clerk of the Supreme Court for 
Hillsborough County, which office he held and filled with ability 
and satisfaction to the court until about 1870, when he removed to 
Boston and began the practice of his profession in that city. He 
returned to Nashua a few years since, where he is now engaged 
in practicing law^ As a member of the ''green bag" fraternity he 
has always stood high in the profession, as a man lie has the con- 
fidence and friendship of all, and as a citizen is honored and re- 
spected by everybody where he has lived. George A. Ramsdell, 
Cornelius V. Dearborn and Eugene Lewis were all practicing law- 
yers in Peterborough, the two former for a number of years. 
They were all men of unquestionable integrity, lawyers of good 
ability, having the confidence of all who knew them. They re- 
quired and sought larger fields of practice, and Messrs. Ramsdell 
and Dearborn moved to Nashua a number of years ago, and Mr. 
Lewis removed and located in Moline, 111., a few years later, where 
he is now engaged in a lucrative and extensive business. 

Albert S. Scott is the next Peterborough lawyer on our list. 
Having been born here, and having been prominently associated 
with the business and prosperity of the town during his whole life, 
something more than a passing notice of him is required at this 
time and on this occasion. Mr. Scott was born in 1824 and lived 
here until he died in 1877, with the exception of a few years' tem- 
porary absence. He was educated in the public schools of the 
town, at Peterborough Academy, Hancock Literary and Scientific 
Institute, Phillips Exeter Academy, and was at Dartmouth Col- 
lege one year. From the time he was about fifteen years old un- 
til 1859 when he was admitted to the bar, he devoted more or less 
of his time to teaching. As a teacher his course of instruction 
was thorough and systematic and therefore successful. He ren- 
dered a vast amount of gratuitous service, and devoted much time 
to our public schools. For many years he was an active and use- 
ful member of the superintending school committee. This is a pub- 
lic dutj' that has always been done in Peterborough without thanks, 
compensation or reward of any kind, notwithstanding the fact that 
it is one of the most important and responsible positions in town 
and one that always sought the best mind, the richest and clearest 
intellect, and well did Mr. Scott perform the full share of this gra- 
tuitous and unappreciated work. I remember well when a lad in 
school the frequent visits that Mr. Scott made to the old school 
house on the hill, sometimes appearing as a matter of official duty 
to direct and encourage in educational affairs, somelimes at the 
request of the teacher or in resi^onse to the petition of a parent to 
discharge a sterner responsibility which Avas incumbent on the "com- 
mittee man." It was sometimes to give a moral lecture, sometimes 
to reprimand and not unfrequeutly to expel a bad boy with a vicious 



110 

heart, and reprehensible, untamed, and ungovernable spirit. What- 
ever was the object of his visit we were always sure that it would 
be accomplished without an apolog-y on his part. His influence in 
school matters was felt and always recognized as long as he lived, 
and every boy who was strugg-ling- to g-et an education and wanted 
a friend to assist and encourag'e him found such a friend in Mr. 
Scott. Soon after he left colleg-e he began the study of medicine 
with Dr. Albert Smith and attended one course of medical lectures 
at Dartmouth Medical College, but for some reason he then aban- 
doned the study of medicine and began the study of law with 
Dearborn & Cheney, then practicing in Peterborough, and was ad- 
mitted to the Hillsborough County bar in 1859. My impression is 
he first located for the practice of his professeon in East JatFrey, 
and after remaining there for a short time returned and established 
himself in Peterborough, where he continued in practice until the 
time of his death, with the exception of a few years, during which 
time he was cashier of the First National Bank of Peterborough. 
He was a man of excellent ability and stood well in the legal pro- 
fession. As a lawyer he was considered a safe and conscientious 
adviser and an excellent general practitioner; but without doubt 
he appeared to the best advantage as an able and effective advo- 
cate. In this branch of the profession he excelled, and it is not 
saying too much to state that he had but a few if any superiors in 
the Hillsborough County bar. He was entrusted with many posi- 
tions of honor and responsibility by his fellow citizens during his 
lifetime, among which I may mention that he represented the town 
four years in the popular branch of the legislature and served as a 
member of the Governor's council two terms, in 1875 and 187(3. 
Mr. Scott was a man of noble qualities of heart, a patriotic, enter- 
prising citizen, and an earnest, zealous worker in charitable as well 
as public enterprises, always identifying himself with the social 
afijiirs and business interests of his native town. He was a good 
friend to all who would be befriended, a devoted husband, and a 
consistent Christian worker. As a man, he was dignified in manner, 
decided in principle and firm in the faith that was in him. As a 
gentleman, he was genial, in principle generous, gladdening the 
hearts of those with whom he had social and business relations. 
In principle and example he lived a noble, upright life, and died 
trusting explicitly in his Lord and Master, whom he had tried con- 
scientiously to serve all his life. By his death Peterborough lost 
one of her most honored citizens, and his premature and untimely 
death Avas mourned by all who knew him. 

In addition to the seventeen lawyers who have practiced in town 
there are thirty-one natives of Peterborough who have read law 
and practiced elsewhere, viz. : Jonathan Steele, John Wilson, Zach- 
eus Porter, David Steele, Jonathan Steele 2d, David Steele, David 
Steele 2d, Isaac P. Osgood, Amasa Edes, David Scott, Gustavus 



Ill 

Swan, Gen. James Miller, Thomas F. Goodhue, Stephen Mitchell, 
John Stuart, Charles Jesse Stuart, James Wilson, Jr., Jonathan 
Smith, Jr., George Walker, Nathaniel Holmes, Samuel A. Holmes, 
Bernard B. Whittemore, James Smith, George A. Hunt, John P. 
Allison, Samuel John Todd, Frederick C. Ingalls, Timothy K. 
Ames 2d, Jonathan Smith, Will A. Scott, and Frank H. Mackintosh. 
Many of these men like many of those who have practiced in Pe- 
terborough were strong, forcible men. We find them in all parts 
of our land leading lights iu the legal profession, in education, 
literature, politics — men of worth and genuine integrity, pos- 
sessing judgment and sterling common sense. All of these men 
furnish examples of strong intellectual ability, adorned with a fin- 
ished and classical education. Therefore you will observe if I have 
not over estimated the worth, and drawn too bright a picture of 
the work that the "Lawyers of Peterborough" have wrought, that 
they have played no unimportant part in the work of our govern- 
ment at home and abroad, the freest and best this side of Heaven, 
and which indeed is founded upon the unwritten law of God, yet, 
notwithstanding the fact that our government is anchored upon 
such principles as the Great Law Giver has promulgated for the 
government of all the people and nations of the earth, you could 
not carry out its principles and precepts, life would not be 
safe, liberty would be lost, and the pursuits and happiness of man 
would be sacrificed were it not for the legal men of our land, who, 
by their legal training vitalize these precepts and principles of law 
and become the means and end of putting them into practical op- 
eration. Without written, well defined and well executed law, 
men could not be qualified to respect constituted authority and gov- 
ernment could not be maintained. Without lawyers to propound 
and define what law is good and what is bad, all business and com- 
mercial interest, and society, which is the foundation upon which 
the whole superstructure of government is built, would become 
disorganized, and in a short time the people would become incapa- 
ble of self government. Without law and lawyers, kingdoms and 
empires and republics would become convulsed with taint and cor- 
ruption, riot and passion would assume dominion, strife and war 
would follow, and ruin would be the inevitable prelude to the 
downfall of any government. 

Sodom and Gomorrah, Nineveh and Babylon, Egypt and Jerusa- 
lem, Greece, Carthage and Rome in the decline of their influence 
and power, and glory, furnish examples of overwhelming evidence 
of the destruction of nations when the people begin to disregard 
sound law and good government. As this decline gradually but 
surely came upon those once mighty nations, occasioned by a de- 
generation of their once learned and classic people, and a disregard 
for their former love of justice and observance of order, neither 



112 

the fiery eloquence of Cicero, nor the loi,ac of Demosthenes could 
turn buck the liearts of tlie people from pending ruin. 

It was the law and order, tempered with right and justice flow- 
ing: out and shimmering in a blaze of living liglit from the brain of 
Adams and Jefferson and other apostles of American liberty that 
brought us out of the land of bondage into the land of freedom. 
Thus we see that the richest, most cultivated and most powerful 
nations, with all their armies and navies, with all their scliools and 
sciences have been virtually swept from the face of the earth be- 
cause they have disregarded the law and order made and estab- 
lished for them, which is the foundation upon which states and 
nations as well as societ_v stand. Remove a nation's virtue and re- 
lax the administration of justice and you take away every element 
which is capable of holding her together and making her grand and 
great as well as progressive and permanent. The ministration of 
the law strikes at the roots of those disorganizing i)rincij)les of 
profligacy and vice which endanger and destroy the rights and lib- 
erties of the people and disturb the peace and happiness of society. 
It cannot be denied but what lawyers advance the interest of good 
government and make the prosperity of a community possible and 
prepare a peoi)le for a higher and more perfect state of existence, 
making them better in all the social, civil and religious relations they 
sustain on earth, man toward man and man toward God. 

Circumstances interpose, and time forbids allowing ine to follow 
each one of those gentlemen through life and presenting even a 
brief abstract of the varied and interesting work of their public 
and private career. I cannot, however, forego the pleasure that it 
will aflbrd me to mention the name of one of these gentlemen whom 
I am delighted to welcome here to-day, and I know he will pardon 
me for speaking of him in his presence, because of the respect and 
mutual friendship we have always entertained for each other, one 
who is not only a brother lawyer and a comrade, but one who has 
been my fi-iend all his life; I refer to the Hon. Jonathan Smith of 
Clinton, Mass., who has so ably spoken to you this afternoon upon 
the ''Military Record of Peterborough." We were boys together. 
We were born and reared side by side in the same neighborhood. 
We have slept in the same bed, we have both kiioAvn when boys 
what hard work was on a farm. Ilis father's and my father's land 
adjoined and we have sweat together in the same hay field. We 
have looked into the field where the other was hard at work, and I 
presume he has wished that I had to do his work, as I have wished 
that he had to do mine. This we did as a matter of course with 
the best of feelings one toward the other. We di-ank — water — from 
the same jug, as in after years we ''drank from the same canteen." 
We attended the same school, tumbled in the same snow, "toed the 
same crack," and have been chastised with the same rod. We have 
liad our school boy quarrels and bloodless encounters, using ex- 



113 

pressions toward each other which are nowhere to be found in the 
Christian catechism, and have hnrled language at one another which 
was never tanght us in the Sunday school. When a boy, as now a 
man, ho "caught on" easily. It was no task for him to learn his 
lessons. A little time devoted to his books kept him ahead of his 
fellows. Unfortunately, this gave him ample time for mischief- 
making with steady going boys like myself. I always sat beside 
him in school and had to hold close communion with my books all day 
long whether it was what was most agreeable to me or not. I used 
to envy him because he had so much time for sly, questionable rec- 
reation during the six hours in the day which has been set aside in 
New England from time immemorial for school purposes. I re- 
member that on a certain occasion, in order to test the sincerity and 
tenderness of his friendship, while he was at the blackboard explain- 
ing an example in mathematics, which he had the audacity to believe 
he could do better than I could, Iplacedalai-ge tack in his seat, the 
most agravatiug and tenacious part pointing upwards. Upon re- 
turning to his seat unconscious of the pi'esence of the cruel little 
villain Avho almost seemed to reach up for his victim, the conse- 
quences and logical exclamations resulting from the weight of a 
one hundred and fifty pound boy coming in contact with such a 
sly little intruder are better understood by observation, combined 
with a lillle experience, than by description! ! In consequence of 
this and one or two other similar experiences that really puts a se- 
vere test to even a boy's goodness and Christianity, I came to 
the conclusion that, if he should choose the law as his profession 
he would make a success of it, as the phrases and expressions then 
used, if not strictly of lec/al form and impoi-t, were certainly clear, 
rompreheitsive and forcible, although I have never seen any such 
language or quotations as he used in any of the ancient or even 
modern text books. These little episodes w^ere only the freaks of 
school boys, and if ever there were any hard feelings between us, 
it lasted only for a day. We served in the same company and regi- 
ment in the military service of the United States in the war of the 
Rebellion. We were not only comrades, but fast friends. As we 
had slept in the same bed when bo}S, so in the Avar we slept in the 
same bunk and beside the same camp fire. We drank from the 
same cup, fed wuth the same knife and fork, and sipped from the 
same spoon. As we had worked side by side in the same field of 
corn when boys, later on we fought side by side on the same 
field of battle for the defense of our country's tlag and to preserve 
the nation's honor. AV^e shared together the dangers of the picket 
post and skirmish line, the fatigue of the march, and the monoto- 
ny of the camp. He was a good soldier, a true comrade, and 
when that time shall come, as it is sure to come, that moves us on- 
ward and completes the inevitable destiny of all the children of 
men, and when the marble shaft is placed to point out to his pos- 



114 

terity and to future generations the final resting- place where sleeps 
a brave soldier, a true patriot, a good and noble man, an appropri- 
priate epitaph to be placed upon tliat monument would be, ^'//e 
ate his hard tack without yrianhling.'' From the war we returned 
to the home of our fathers together. Later on we were ix'ading 
law at the same time, and since then we have made its practice our 
regular profession. Really, our lives have seemed to run from 
earliest boyhood in the same channel, and as real as that seems to 
us, we have been equally as true friends. 

After being mustered ont of the service in 1865 he completed his 
course of education, entering Dartmouth in 1867, and graduated 
from that institution in 1871. AYhile in college he was perse- 
vering as well as industrious, having an object in view, which was 
to fit himself for an honorable, useful life, relying entirely upon his 
own resources and ability to furnish the sinews necessary to secure 
a college education. In the fall of 1870 while in college, and in the 
fall of 1871 after graduating, he taught the academy at Lancaster, 
N. H. He was editor of the Cobs Republican from December, 
1871, to June, 1773. His pithy articles and sharp thrusts estab- 
lished his reputation as an able and fearless champion of his polit- 
ical faith. The editor's chair, howev^er, was not the place for 
which he educated himself, and in June, 1873, he entered the law 
office of Cross & Burnham in Manchester, was admitted to the 
Hillsborough County bar in January, 1875, and immediately opened 
an oflBce in that city and began the pi'actice of his profession. He 
was elected city solicitor of Manchester in 1876, re-elected to the 
same office in 1877 and again in 1878. In 1878 he removed to Clin- 
ton, Mass., where he has since been engaged in an extensive law 
practice. He was special justice of the second district court of 
Eastern Worcester from 1881 to 1886, at which time he resigned to 
take his seat in the Massachusetts house of representatives, having 
been elected a member of that body from the fifth "Worcester rep- 
resentative district, comprising the citj of Clinton and six neigh- 
boring towns, which office he held one year. He was rea])pointed 
special justice of the second district court of Eastern Worcester in 
1889, which position he now holds. 

This honorable record of my estimable brother, proves conclu- 
sively that he is in truth and fact a worthy scion of his distin- 
guished progenitor of whom I have spoken ; that he has the confi- 
dence and respect of the whole connnunity in which he Jives and 
to which he is justly entitled ; and from among all the sons and 
daughters of Peterborough, and my many friends who have re- 
turned to-day to the old hearthstone from all over our country, 
there are none I am more glad to see, and no one to whom I ex- 
tei)d a more cordial welcome and fraternal greeting than to him. 

There is now a larger number of lawyers in Peterborough than 
has been located here at any one time before. This may indicate 



115 

one condition of things and yet mean quite another. One might 
natiii-ally tliink and perhaijs be led to believe that the love of strife 
among- the citizens was increasing, that the moral atmosphere vras 
becoming contaminated with ungodly things, and that the temper 
of the inhabitants was getting to be unquestionably bad. Quite 
the opposite, however, prove to be the real facts in the case. Lit- 
igation and lawsuits are constantly growing less. 

I once heard a doctor say in responding for the medical gentle- 
men, that it naturally followed that the more doctors there were in 
a community the more sickness and affliction there must Jiecessarily 
be ! The reverse is the case with the legal fraternity. The more 
lawyers the less litigation and greater the happiness ! This is the 
very best reason why you should tolerate those you have with you 
and encourage others to come! Beyond a question of doubt, the 
morals of the inhabitants are better than in the earlier days of the 
town, and the morbid love for strife and litigation which we are 
told once prevailed to such an extent that almost everybody in 
town was involved in some kind of a lawsuit or personal quarrel, 
is constantly diminishing. The lawyers in a self sacrificing spirit are 
willing to take upon themselves, veiy largely, if not entirely, the re- 
sponsibility of this improved condition of society and the peaceful 
turn of mind that now seems to pervade the whole community ! This 
is a very desirable condition of aflTairs for the people, but how is it 
for the lawyers ? Cannot you see that it is mighty hard for the "green 
bag" fraternity? It is safe to say that, with five lawyers in Peter- 
borough, there is not more than twenty-five per cent, of the litiga- 
tion there was in the early history of the town. Certainly there is 
no occasion for the town to consider the proposition of giving anv 
lawyer a bonus of five hundred dollars a year to stay here, simply 
to discourage lawsuits and litigation as it once proposed to do by 
Jeremiah Smith. There seems to be but very little inducement for 
young men to prepare themselves and engage in the legal profes- 
sion now days in this community, except to promote and secure 
good order, and stimulate "peace and good will on earth" among 
the children of men ! This we do as a matter of fact, purely from 
benevolent and philanthropic principles and compunction of con- 
science, in an unbegrudging, self sacrificing manner, and withal, a 
firm determmation to keep constantly in view, whether we do 
much business or but little, the noble i^rinciples once expressed bv 
Daniel Webster at a public dinner when called upon to respond in 
behalf of "The Lawyers," when he closed with this sentiment: 
"The law. It has honored us; may we honor it." Such truly has 
been the practice, purpose, and character of the older "Lawyers of 
Peterborough" who have completed their work and gone to their 
reward, leaving for the people of this town the proud conscious- 
ness that her sons have not only honored the law, but that they 
have elevated and dignified that profession which is adorned 



116 

with the brightest and keenest intellect of mankind. May their 
example be emulated by those now in the drama of active life, and 
may those who follow us continue to elevate and diofnify the hon- 
orable profession. The influence and example of such men as I 
have spoken of, ought at least to prevent us and those who shall 
succeed us, from becoming promoters and conspirators of strife, 
and at least encourage them to strive to attain the highest ideal in 
the profession, to cause them to feel that they are not merely 
lawyers, having- an aim only for personal gain, but to realize that 
that they are indeed ministers in the Temple of Justice, that justice 
is demanding of them to subordinate greed and gloritication after 
the manner and custom of men, and to devote their energy in assist- 
ing to I'edress wrong, preventing oppression, and securing eternal 
justice between man and man. This much briefly told of the his- 
tory of the sons and "Lawyers of Peterborough" who have prac- 
ticed the legal profession here and elsewhere will be sufficient at 
this time to convince an intelligent people that they have occupied 
no ignoble place in this town and other communities in which they 
have lived ; that they have been conspicuous actors in the grand 
events which make up the history of our town and country, and I 
trust I shall not be considered presumptuous if I state that the law- 
yers hold a ijosition in local and public matters b_v virtue of their 
profession, which places thein paramount to all other i)rofessional 
jnen, and that the lawyers who have practiced in Peterborough and 
her sons who have practiced elsewhere have had a great influence in 
shaping and directing the destiny of affairs, and compare favorably 
in ability and legal attainments Avith those of any other town in 
the State of New Hampshire. 

"The Lawyers of Peterborough'' have served you in the govern- 
ment of your town, they have always taken an active interest in 
the cause of education, they have always been interested in your 
churches and the cause of Christianity, they have always been 
found on the side of truth and justice, they have been of liberal 
mind and advanced ideas, they have served you in both branches 
of the State legislature and as the governor and chief executive of 
the State, they have filled and honored every department in our 
courts of justice, they have sat upon the bench, have influenced 
courts by their logical and legal arguments, and warped the minds 
of jurists by the force of their strong and eloquent pleas. Their 
voices have been heard in the halls of our National CongTCss, and 
when law, and argument, and modern diplomacy have failed 
among men and nations to establish the riglit and correct the 
wrong, they have been seen in the foremost rank of dang-er on the 
field of battle fighting for justice, defending the flag and protect- 
ing their country's honor, and above all else, they have been re- 
spectable citizens, at all times taking an interest in the general wel- 
fare and prosperity of the town, and as a rule, have had the confi- 



117 

dence and respect of tlieir fellow citizens in the community in 
which they lived. 

Our historian somewhere records the fact that the ministerial 
history of the town is the darkest pag-e in the calendar. The legal 
profession has furnished no such chapter for our history. "The 
Lawyers of Peterborough" need no words of mine to defend thom, 
and I cannot pronounce a more fitting and truthful eulogy, or one 
that will speak louder in their praise or more eloquently in their 
commendation than by saying, and without fear of contradiction, 
that they have taken part and been associated, at some time, in 
some place, and in some way, with some or all of the great and 
gi-and events, either local or national, tlie accomplishment of which 
has made our town, and county, and state, and country, so grand 
and glorious, and Peterborough has indeed especial reason to be 
proud of her sons who have made law their profession. They have 
all discharged their duty and performed their part as American 
citizens in working out tlie glory and salvation of our common 
country, securing for us an honorable and independent existence 
among the nations of the earth, the future possibilities of which 
are grand beyond conception. Of the seventeen lawyers who have 
practiced in Peterborough, I have made brief mention Avith the ex- 
ception of the rive last named, who are now living and are engaged in 
the practice of their profession in this town. Of them it is not my 
purpose to speak individually. You know them all as well as I. 
Our race in life is not run, our work like most of our predecessors 
of whom I have spoken is unfinished, and we will leave them and 
their labor, and their record, as subjects for future generations, 
and for those who will celebrate the two hundreth anniversary of 
our towai fifty years from to-day, trusting my friends that the law 
will be as ably promulgated and as honestly and conscientiously 
administered during the ne.\t one hundred and fifty years as it has 
been in the past, and that Peterborough may continue to raise up 
men who will do equal honor to the legal profession. 

The Chairman: 

Mr. President: — 1 desire to present now a gentleman, a son of 
Peterborough, one who as a conqjanion and schoolmate in boyhood 
I remember as deeply interested in vocal and instrumental music. 
I introduce to you Ethan Iladley, Esq., of Chicopee, Mass., who 
will speak to the theme, 

''Our Former Citizens." 
Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens of my Native Town: — 
It gives me great pleasure to be present with you today, to look 
in the faces of so many I knew in boyhood, and to have so vividly 
brought to remembrance the events of fifty years ago. But there 
comes a feeling of sadness as I look back over the neighborhoods of 



118 

my acquaintance, call to mind tlie inmates of the homes, my as- 
sociates and schoolmates, and know that a large majority of them 
are gone, never to return. My father's household seems to be an 
exception. There were eight brothers and sisters then, and all 
are living today ; also, three others born since, the youngest about 
forty years of age. Nearly a generation has come and gone since 
I have resided here, and yet there are no places or localities that 
come back to mind with such pleasurable distinctness as the hills and 
mountains, valleys and streams of Peterborough. 

I was a small lad of eleven years at the time of the celebration 
of the one hundredth anniversary, too young to be permitted to 
take any acLiv^e part in the exercises of that occasion, but my fa- 
ther was a member of the choir, and I being somewhat musically 
inclined, he allowed me to go with him to some of the prelimina- 
ry gatherings and rehearsals for singing. I remember of going 
to a meeting in the old town hall on what is now Concord street, 
called to make arrangements for the singing, an important part of 
which was to choose a leader. The choice lay between two — Mr. 
Nahum Warren and Mr. Milton Carter. Now, for certain reasons, 
I had come to entertain the highest respect for the musical ability 
of Nahum AVarren, and felt very sure that he ought to be chosen 
leader, but when the vote vras taken, it was found that a large ma- 
jority thought otherwise, and Mr. Carter was elected. As I look 
back upon it now with maturer judgment, I should say, that while 
the sineers did not choose the best musician, they nevertheless 
made no mistake in the choice, for Mr. Carter, with his goahead- 
itiveness, push and musical enthusiain, would arouse an interest in 
the singers that Mr. Warren very likely would have failed to have 
done. 

After choosing a leader came the question as to what should be 
sung. Selections were made from old and somewhat familiar 
music, but they thought that the grand occasion called for some- 
thing new, and so sent abroad and procured an antliem entitled, 
"A Multitude of Angels." It was a noisy and somewhat peculiar 
•piece of music, and some of the lads of the village named it ''a 
multitude of devils." Probably it has not been sung in Peterbo- 
ro^igli since then; certainly I have never heard it, but think I can 
recall somo of the opening strains. (Sings.) 

"A multitude of angels, a multitude of angels, 
With a shout! with a shout!" 

And in thought I can see Mr. Carter as he stood there drilling 
the united choirs, vigorously marking the time with his fiddle bow, 
or joining in the chorus with voice and violin, trying to beget in 
the siugers something of his own enthusiasm. And he met with 
commendable success; for when the time arrived, the music was 
forcibly rendered, and "A Multitude of Angels" filled every nook 
and corner of the church. 



119 

On the morning of the 24th, probably every boy in town who 
could do so was in the village. I was on hand, and as the proces- 
sion was being formed on Concord street, very naturally gravita- 
ted to the front where the musicians were, for we had a band that 
day. If a comparison was to be made between that and the one 
to whose stirring strains we have listened today, it might in some 
respects be unfavorable for the former organization, but they were 
no mean company of musicians. Small in numbers, but not small 
men. There was Mr. Morse of Dublin, a man of stalwart frame, 
though he placed a small instrument — an E-flat bugle, but little 
used at the present time ; and Mr. Phillips, known as Dick Phillips. 
As I recall him, he had largeness in more directions than one. 
Large eyebrows, a large face, mouth and lips, and large also in the 
region of the stomach and abdomen. But when he put the large 
cup or mouthpiece of his instrument to those large lips, the tones 
that came forth from that slide trombone, were anything but small. 
They were true and telling. And there was Merrill Peavey, who 
played a B-tiat bugle — another instrument gone out of use. And 
there were thi-ee brothers of the White family, all of them full of 
music ; and thei-e were probably some others whom I do not recall. 
Now these musicians were in readiness to play with music selec- 
ted and in their bookracks, when the marshal of the day, Gen. 
John Steele, walked to the front, and in a courteous yet somewhat 
dignitied manner, said: ''Gentlemen of the band will please play, 
''All Long Syne." Now, evidently, "Auld Lang Syne" was not 
in the jjrogram, and the musicians looked at one another enquir- 
ingly, as if to say, what shall we do? One said, "We can't play it." 
Another, "'O, yes we can." "Well, what key shall we play it in?" 
After deciding what the key should be, at the word of command 
they played without notes, marching to the slow time of this famil- 
iar air to the church, where they continued playing until the celeb- 
rities and veterans had passed in, when the tune was changed 
for a lively quickstep. There may be some of those players pres- 
ent, and I am querying whether they can recall that tune. I fancy 
its strains are running through my mind, and for their sakes and 
those who heard them, without regard to musical taste or style, 
will endeavor to give them vocal form. (Sings "The Prince Eugene 
Quickstep.") And so, marching to the rapid movement of this 
rollicking quickstep, the church was soon tilled to overflowing, and 
there was no room for boys. At least I thought so, and being a 
somewhat bashful boy, failed to gain admittance, and therefore 
recall little else that was done. 

There are many here to-day who were here tif ty years ago. There 
are probably, also, many who will be living when the two hun- 
dredth anniversary shall come ; but none of us, fellow citizens, 
who can remember the past fifty years, will be living then, to re- 
call the present. We shall all have yielded to the fell destroyer. 



120 

But thanks, there will be no lack of people to celebrate the two 
hundredth anniversaiy, if they choose to do so. I believe there Is 
a future yet for Peterborough; when man shall have advanced in 
knowledge as he surely will, and better understands how to utilize 
the sources of wealth, comfort and i)Ower, to be found in the 
streams and soil, and beneath the soil of these hills and valleys; 
and when some of the evils that have afflicted, and do still afflict 
this as well as most other towns, — when these shall have been put 
far away, there shall be found dwelling here in generations to 
come, a prosperous, contented and happy people. 

The Chairman : 

I will now call upon James F. Brennan, Esq., to respond to the 
closing toast for this occasion, 

"Our Irish American Citizens." 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen : — My memory leads 
me back over a comparatively brief jjart of the time covered by the 
recollections of the gray haired men and women who are here pres- 
ent. I was born in this beautiful village; my first hallowed rec- 
ollections cluster here; its territory is familiar to me; I know its 
people and something of its history, and wherever I go my mind 
reverts with pride to this good old town. It is with great pleasure 
that I accept the honor of responding to this toast, and in what I 
have to say shall not refer to the compai'atively modern generation 
of Irishmen — Murphy, Brennan, llamill, Noone, and scores of 
othei'S — and their descendants, who have helped to build up this 
town, and whose history should be left for a resume of fifty years 
hence, but to those eai'ly settlers who came across the ocean, and 
their descendants ; men who risked all, even life itself, to make 
this spot a fit place for the abode of men. They were com- 
posed in a very small part of Scotchmen, Englishmen and other 
nationalities, but the essential i)art of the pioneers of our town, in 
fact nearly all of them, were Irishmen, for I assume that where 
,men were born in Ireland, as they were, where many of their fa- 
thers, perhaps, also, some of their grandfathers were born, they 
were men who can unqualifiedly be called Irishmen. Adopt any 
other standard and a large part of the inhabitants of Ireland at the 
time they emigrated would not be considered Irishmen, and prob- 
ably few persons in this town to-day would be considered Ameri- 
cans. The Scotchmen who came to Ireland, and from Avhom some 
of the pioneers of this town trace their ancestry, landed on that 
I^merald Isle, as our town history records it, in IGIO, more than a 
century and a quarter before their descendants came to this country 
in 17;3('). They were indeed Irishmen lo the manor born, with 
all the traits, impulses and characteristics of that i)eople, having, as 
the Rev. Dr. Morison said in his centennial address, the "comic 
humor and pathos of the Irish," and to their severe character and 



121 

habits "another comforter came in, of Irish parentage; the long- 
countenance became short, the broad Irish hiimor besran to rise," 
etc. Need I ask the indulgence of my hearers if I occupy a part of 
the time allotted to me in naming some of these men who were the 
founders of this town and the inaugurators of civilization in this 
section ? 

Samuel Gordon and wife (Eleanor IVIitchell) were born in the 
County Tyrone, Ireland, as were also his father and mother ; they 
are all buried in the old cemetery on the hill. By marriage the 
blood intermixed M'ith Holden, Kimball, Barnes, Pierce, Cochran, 
Dickey, AVhite, Brooks and Hurd. 

William Alld was born in Ireland in 1723, and was one of the 
early settlers. The blood mixed by marriage with Swan, Metcalf. 
Worcester, Way and Whitten. 

John McKean was born in Ballymony, Ireland, in 1714, and was 
the ancestor of all the McKeans in this section. His son James 
lived and died on the David Blanchard place. 

John Ferguson was born in Ireland in 1704, and came to this 
country with the Smiths, Wilsons and Littles. The blood in- 
fused into Morison, Stuart, Duncan, Miller, Moore, Evans and 
Whiting. 

George Duncan was born in Ireland and was the ancestor of all 
of that name in this section. Shortly after emigrating he married 
Mary Bell of Ballymony, and their progeny married into Taggart, 
Todd, Black, McCIellan, Moore, Wallace, Wells and Cummings. 

John Swan came from Ireland, and the family mixed by mar- 
riage with Parker, Stuart, Gilchrest. Morse, Caldwell, Alld, Saw- 
yer, Graham, Chamberlain, Nay, Hoyt, Steele, Hannaford, Moore, 
Mitchell, Cutter and White. 

Joseph Turner and wife emigrated from Ireland with their sons 
Thomas, Joseph and William, who were all born there. The blood 
by marriage went into AYellman, Sanders, Shedd, Converse, Nich- 
ols, Goodhue, Nutting, Taggart, Davis and Preston. 

John Moore emigrated from Irela)id in 1718, and is the ancestor 
of all of the same name here. The blood mixed by marriage with 
Jewett, Priest, Taggart, Woodward, Smith, Gregg, Dinsmore. 
Wood, Steele, Turner, Holmes, Burnham, Jordan and Phelps. 

Andrew Todd was born in Ireland in 1G97, and married a daugh- 
ter of John Moore. Their progeny married with Morison, Miller, 
Taggart and Brown. 

John Smiley, after his marriage, emigrated from Ireland. The 
blood by marriage went into Miller, Hovey, Parker, McCoy, Wil- 
son and Leonard. 

Abial Sawyer was born in Ireland in 1721, where also his wife 
was born in 1726. From them all of the name about here trace 
their origin, intermixing by marriage with Gregg, Bailey, Scott, 
Farnsworth, Howard and Nichols. 



122 

Matthew and James Templeton came from Ireland, and their 
blood intermixed by marriage with Holmes, Miller, Robbe, Wil- 
der and McCoy. 

AVilliam Robbe, both of his wives, and seven childi'en, were all 
born in Ireland, three generations of the family having- lived 
there. From them all of the name in town trace their origin. 
They mixed by marriage with Taggart, Whittemore, Farnsworth, 
Mussey, White, Redding, Chapman, Gowing, Livingston, Morri- 
son, Moore, FoUansbee and Swallow. 

Thomas Steele was born in Ireland in 1G94, and came here in 
1718. The blood mixed by marriage with Gregg, Mitchell, Wil- 
son, Smith, Ramsey, Swan, Senter, Willey and Rice. With anoth- 
er branch of the Steeles which emigrated from Ireland was the fa- 
ther of the late John H. Steele, governor of our State in 1844-5. 

William Wilson emigrated from the County Tyrone, Ireland, in 
1737, w^ith liis wife, davighter, and son Robert who was born in 
that county, and who commanded a party of men organized to go 
to Lexington, armed, as our town history says, with guns, pitch- 
forks and shillalahs. The blood by marriage went into Swan, 
Steele, Johnson, Hunter, Lee, Gibbon, Scott, Jackson, Sherwood, 
Fisk and Taintor. 

Thomas Davidson emigrated fi-om Ireland with his brother John 
Davidson, and Matthew Wright. By marriage the blood w^ent in- 
to Patrick, Hoar, Dodge, Clark, Cutter and Nichols. 

Thomas Cunningham was a native of Ireland. The blood mixed 
by marriage with Robbe, McKean, Treadwell, Hale, Goodhue, 
Jackson, Caldwell, Porter and Bishop. 

John Wallace came to Londonderry fi'om the County Antrim, 
Ireland, in 1719, and was the ancestor of the name here. The 
blood is mixed with Mitchell, Xoone and Spline. 

.Tames Gregg emigrated from Ireland to Loudondery In 1718, 
and was the ancestor of all of the name In this section. The fami- 
ly intermixed with Steele, Gibbs, Hutchlns, Nelson, Macy and 
Wright. 

William McNee, born In Ireland in 1711, was one of the settlers 
of the town. Before he came to this country he married Mary E. 
Brownley, by whom he had all his clilldren. His descendants 
have now reached the eighth generation, but unfortunately the 
name is entirely lost. The first and second generations retained 
the name, but the third changed it to Nay. They intermixed with 
Cunningham, Taggart, Millikln, Sw^an, Upton, Weston, Davidson, 
Turner, Miller, Gilbert, Frost, Buss, AVood, Felt, Cross, Porter, 
Jaquith, Vose, Adams, Young, Balch, Perkins and Hapgood. 

Nathaniel Holmes (the ancestor of our able orator here to-day 
and all of the name in this section) was born in Coleralne, Ireland, 
as was also his father. Thus we have three generations of this 
family which lived in Ireland. He was an early settler and by 



12:5 

marriage the blood mixed with Whittemore, Adams. Clement. 
Swasey, Leach, Kimball, Dickey, Hall, Grifflii, Gregg-, Miller. 
Aiken, Bruce, Sewall, Smith, Newton and Livingston. 

There were two distinct families of Millers in town, remotely 
related; the ancestors of both, however, came from Ireland. Back 
to these people our president of this day and all of the name here- 
abouts trace their ancestry. They intermarried with Patterson, 
Burns, Campbell, Vickery, Johnson, Mead, Shipman, Templeton, 
McFarland, White, Duncan, Davis, Kopes, Wilkins, Phelps, Mc- 
Coy, Thompson, Cunningham, Taggart, Gowing, Clark, Gregg. 
Holt, Sanderson, Wilder and Scott. 

All of the Whites in town, including the marshal of this day. 
are descendants of Patrick White, who was born in Ireland in 
1710. By marriage they intermixed with Stuart, Shearer, Gregg. 
Upton, Cram, Stearns, Carley, Parker, Grant, Dennis, Goodwin, 
Farmer, Perry, Swan, Pierce, Fisk, Washburn, Whittemore, Shat- 
tuck, Leighton, Burns, Alld, Grimes, Loring, Holmes, Mitchell, 
Scott, Cunningham, Lakin, Spafford, Longley, Kyes and Tenney. 

Samuel Morison and wife emigrated from Ireland, leaving their 
parents, but taking with them eight children, who were all born 
there. From them descended all that family in this section who 
spell their name with one r, including- our poet of to-day, and the 
venerable gentleman whom we are proud to have with us here, 
who delivered the oration at our centennial fifty years ago. By 
marriage their blood went into the following named families: 
Steele, Mack, Knight, Johnson, Bassett, Williams, Mitchell, Smith. 
Moore, Todd, AVallace, Hale, Graham, Felt, Wilcox, Holmes, Bux- 
ton and Wells. 

James Smith, the progenitor of all the Smiths in this section. 
was from Ireland. His son Robert was born in Moneymore, Ire- 
land, and with his four children, John, Sarah, Mary and William, 
all born near Lough Neagh, came to this country in 1736. Thus 
we find that three generations of this family were from Ireland. 
Dr. Smith, the historian of our town, was a descendant of this 
family. By marriage the blood went into Bell, McNee, Morison, 
White, Annan, Dunshee, Fletcher, Smiley, Burns, McCrillis, Em- 
ery, Findley, Pierce, Russell, Barker, Fifield, Cavender, Walker, 
Gordon, Fox, P\)ster, Reynolds, Kilbourne, Jones, Leonaid. Blan- 
chard, Lewis, Cheney and Dearborn. 

William Scott emigrated in 17:}(i from Coleraine, Ireland, where 
all his children were born, among them William, Avho settled here 
the same year. This man and liis father were Irish, as was also 
Alexander Scott, progenitor of another branch which settled here 
and emigrated at the same time. From tiiese families sprang 
every person of the name in town, among them our efficient toast- 
master, and by marriage the blood has mingled with Cochran. 
Robbe, VVills, Maxfield, Cummings, Ramsey. Whitney, Lincoln. 



124 

Looinis, Gi-ay, Ballard, Jewett. Fuller, Eawcrs. Orr. Allyii. Blaii- 
chard, Clark and Ramsdell. 

This is only a partial list of the Irislnucii wlio were the founders 
aud builders of Peterboi'ough — which may he completed at some 
future time. It could be extended considerably, but sutficient 
names are here given to show the nationality of the men to whom 
this town owes its existence. All the brief facts here given are 
taken from the history of this town and that of Londonderrv, 
N. H. 

Thus we see that there are comparatively few persons in town 
to-day, with the exception of recent comers, who have not coursing 
in their veins the blood of those sturdy Irishmen wlio made 
this town what it is, whose bodies have long- since returned to 
clay in the old cemetery on the hill, and whose history is the his- 
tory of the town itself. Long may tlieir memory be cherished ! 
Long: may the pride which exists in such ancestry be retained ! 
They were brave, honest, manly men, who broke down the bar- 
riers that civilization nnght enter. Their lot was a life of hard- 
ship ; it is ours to enjoy the fruits of their work. 

Not only the privations of this cold, uninviting- country were 
theirs to suffer, but intolerance and bigotry met them at the 
threshold of the country to which they were about to bring- a bless- 
ing-. Rev. Dr. Morison iu his centennial address, said that when 
the Smiths, Wilsons, Littles and others arrived, "it was noised 
about that a pack of Irishmen had landed." They were denied 
even lodgings. Mr. Winship, of Lexington, who extended a wel- 
come to them, however, said, "If this house reached from here to 
Charlestown, and I could find such Irish as these, I would have 
it filled up with Irish, and none but Irish." 

If there is a town or city in this broad land owing a greater debt 
of gratitude to that green isle over the sea than does this town, I 
know it not. If there is a place which should extend more 
earnest and loving sympathy to Ireland in her struggles, I know 
not where it is. It Avas there that your forefathers and mine 
were born ; there where their infant feet were directed ; there 
where they were educated in those grand principles of hon- 
esty, sturdy manhood and bravery well fitting- them to become 
the pioneers of any country, and fortunate it was for that land 
toward which they turned their faces. Here they built their log 
cabins, and shrines to worship God, and reared families of from 
eight to sixteen children, for they were people among whom large 
families were jiopular, and the more modern aversion to a large num- 
ber of children had not taken possession of those God-fearing men 
and women. Happy it was that the duty of populating this coun- 
try was theirs, and not that of the present generation, whose dispo- 
sition to do this might be doubted. Dr. Smith writes in our town 
history : "Of the large and influential families of Todd, Templeton, 



12.-) 

Swan, Alld, Stuart, Cuniiingham, Mitchell, Ritchie, Ferguson, and 
many more, not a single individual of their family remains in 
town; and of the large families of Steele, Kobbe, Smith, Moi'ison, 
Moore and Holmes, their numbers are greatly lessened, and they 
are growing less every year." 

In reviewing tlie character of these men, we should not, as a 
tirst essential, go into an inquiry of how they worshipped God ; of 
what were their religious or political belief; whether Pi-otestant 
or Catholic, Whig or Tory. AVe only ask were they honest men, 
holding fast to those principles which they believed right? The 
answer to this will not bring the blush of shame upon our cheek, 
nor the consciousness of regret that their blood is part and parcel 
of our bodies. If we follow in their footsteps in our dealings 
with men ; if we are as honest and courageous as they ; if we do 
an equal share to make the world better and more attractive to fu- 
ture generations, w^e can, when the toil of this life is over, re.>t in 
the secure belief of duty well done. 

The Chairman: 

The lateness of the hour and the gathering darkness remind me 
that these very interesting exercises must be brought to a close. 
The audience wi.l i.ow rise and join the choir in singing "Amer- 
ica:" 

"My country, 'tis of thee." 

Sung by the united audience with great spirit, after which the 
gathering adjourned to meet October 24, 19")9. 



ANTIQUARIAN DEPARTMENT. 



This department, under tlie management of the very efficient 
committee, proved to be one of tlie chief attractions to those who 
were so fortunate as to gain admission to the limited quarters as- 
signed for the display of the rare exhibits that were contributed 
on the occasion. The following- is a partial list, although many 
other articles of interest, and equally deserving' of notice were on 
exhibition : 

Wm. Ames — two iron kettles 130 years old, warming- pan and 
foot warmer. 

Mrs. A. W. Xoone — hand card 75 years old. 

Mrs. H. P. Bullard — slippers, black veil, hose and sampler made 
in 1825. 

Prof. M. H. Fiske of Temple — pocket register taken by his 
grandfather from the dead body of a British soldier during, the 
year 1777. 

Mrs. F. F. Myrick — China teapot and glass tea caddy brought 
from China in 1795. 

Miss Fannie Richardson — ear jewels KiO years old. 

John Scott — first nnrror brought to town, and very old cups and 
saucers. 

J. F. Brennan — copies of the first written and first printed cata- 
logues of the town library, and a complete set of annual town 
reports. 

Mrs. John Adams — bread toaster, bedspread, ancient crockery, 
coffee and tea pot. 

Mrs. Betsey AVashburn — plate, sampler and toddy tumbler. 

Mrs. Frank Spaulding — dress, crockery, chair, and tea canister, 
all centenarians. 

Mrs. J. E. Saunders — spider a century old, ancient creamer and 
plate. 

Mrs. A. L. Nay — slippers, book, shoulder cape, snuffer and tray, 
bead bag, plate and nutmeg grater. 

Mrs. Fannie Carter — choice ancient crockery. 

A. W. Noone — a large number of samples of goods manufac- 
tured at his mill. 

Two dolls 61 years old were exhibited by Mrs. Tnbbs and Mrs. 
Avery, and pitcher 100 years old by Flora J. Tubbs. 



127 

Mrs. Fanny Swan — tea caddy in vise when tea was $5 a pound, 
old chair. 

Fred S. Piper — small silver spoons. 

Frank Davis — sermon 121 years old, christening' cup and chair. 

C. A. Wheeler — continental three dollar bill, 1775, sun dial used 
by the thirteenth family which settled in Hancock in 1775, a buss 
made with a pen-knife and finely carved. 

Nellie W. McGilvray — 125 years old sugar bowl and creamer. 

The flue old framed portraits and samplers which attracted a 
large share of attention, were sent from Rutherford, N. J., by 
Mrs. Mary L. Hallock, at her own expense. They were fine like- 
nesses of Daniel and Sally (Allison) Abbot, both born in London- 
derry in 1769. The portraits were painted in 1806. One of the 
samplers was made by Jane Abbot, afterwards Mrs. John Scott of 
Detroit, Mich., in 1811, and the other by Sally Abbot, afterwards 
Mrs. Jeflerson Fletcher of Westford, Mass., in 1818. 

Mrs. C. A. Rice of Heimiker — skirt embroidered by Mrs. J. M. 
Ramsey in 1809, when in her 14th year, veil and collar by Mrs. 
Betsey Steele, collar by Jane Steele, towel by Irene Felt, pin cus^h- 
ion and handkerchief. 

Mrs. Geo. Cragin — pair of silver candlesticks brought from Eng- 
land to Salem, Mass., 160 years ago, and a tooth "from the whale, 
it is supposed, that swallowed Jonah." 

Mrs. Alice Tucker — very ancient punch bowl, and a Bible print- 
ed in 1734. 

Ancient bibles were loaned by E. M. Felt, F. A. Wallace, Misses 
Lizzie Blanchard and Mary Snow. 

The tall clock which stood at the right of the stage was one of 
the first brought to town, and is the property of John C. Swallow. 
The little wall clock suspended at the left of the stage was owned 
by Mrs. M. A. Howe, and is a relic of the AVhiting family. F. P. 
Fisk also exhibited a very ancient time piece. 

Of ancient books there were a number, the oldest being a work 
on medicine, printed in London, England, in the year 1652, loaned 
by C. H. Hay ward, 

Geo. H. Longley exhibited a pair of saddle bags once belonging 
to old aunt Susa Morrison, and known to be over 110 years old. 

Mrs Caroline Clark exhibited a prayer book 274 years old, also a 
pair of spectacles 175 years old, cups, saucers, pepper box, mustard 
pots, mugs, Salter, plates, pewter porringer, silver teapot, and two 
very ancient chairs finely preserved and now inconstant daily use. 

Mrs. Isaac D. White contributed three baby caps 100 years old, 
and a still more aged imtmeg grater, cups and saucers, two samp- 
lers, and an hour glass which has been an heir loom in her family 
for more than 125 vears. 



128 

Hon. Peter Clark of New Ipswich presented an old German flag- 
on made in the year 1671. It was unearthed in Sharon, some time 
since, by a man who was engaged in digging out a woodchuck. 

Mrs. W. G. Livingston — copy of the first sermon preached in 
Xew England, teapot more than 100 years old, candlestick lOO 
years old. 

Mrs. Charles Jewett — Mother Goose's melodies, printed in 1733. 

Sampson Washburn — linen doily made from flax grown on 
AVashburn farm, of which samples were shown : choice needle 
work and two old almanacs. 

Mrs. A. II. Wheeler — hour glass, slippers 17o and stockings 1;')0 
years old, home made linen, two ladies' wallets, lady's lunch bag. 

Benoni Fuller — table 100 years old. 

H. W. Dunbar — relic of old meeting house. 

Mrs. Charles Scott — brass candlesticks, brouglit from England 
1 16 j'ears ago. 

Mrs. Samuel Taggart— elegant old ( Hiina tea set. 

Miss Ellen Edes — black silk wedding dress worn by J. D. Dia- 
mond's grandmother 125 years ago. 

A. F. Grimes — pair brass candlesticks, and silver castor former- 
ly owned by Mrs. L. W. Hogan — a choice relic. 

Mrs. Clarence White — elegant China tea set, old fashioned high 
backed comb, clock reel. 

James Wilson — old oval, swinging tavern sign, ''William Wil- 
son, 1798;" spinning wheel, clock reel and old portrait. 

Wm. Moore — ancient chair and two old paintings in water col- 
ors. 

J. C. Swallow — linen sheet and bedspread made on hand loom, 
and a well preserved old surveyor's compass used in the early days 
of Peterborough. 

Mrs. P. D. Brown — books 158 years old, handkerchief, breast- 
pin, spectacles, thread case and shawl. 

Mrs. L. R. Pierce — sampler, handglass, spectacles, ancient book, 
pewter plate and basin. 

Miss Ann Woodward — Ladies' circular made from a dress more 
than 200 years old, sun dial brought from Ireland 200 years ago, 
and a copy of one of the first geographies used in this country. 

Mrs. George Hunt — gourd used as a coffee holder, candlesticks 
used in the illumination of the old Hancock house in Boston when 
tlie Declaration of Independence was celebrated, powder horn, 
sampler, etc., from the estate of the late Col. John Little. 



CENTENNIAL NOTES, 



I'ETERBOROUGII CADET HAND. 

The following is a list of the members of Pcitcrborouoh Cadet 
Band at the 150th anniversarv celebration: 



Henry B. Needhani, 
Fred J. Ames, . 
Louis J. Dean, 
Scott J. Appleton, 
Frank H. Osborn, 
AVilliam P. Averill, 
George W. Prestoii, 
Thomas F. Bnrns, 
Fred G. Livingston, 
Charles A. Robbe, 
Louis -E. Fitzg-erald, 
Augustin Blanchette, 
George F. Diamond, 
Charles H. Warren, . 
Fred G. Eobbe, 
Fred W. Hardy, 
Frank E. Longlev, 
Frank E. Eusself, . 
Algernon L. Holt, 
Charles G. Rourke, . 
Abraham E. Burgess, 
Edgar J. Treadwell, 



Drum Major. 

Leader and Director. 

Piccolo. 

E-flat Clarinet. 

B-flat Clarinet . 

. E-flat Cornet. 

E-flat Cornet. 

. Solo B-flat Cornet. 

. 1st B-flat Cornet- 

1st B-flat Cornet. 

. 2d B-flat Cornet. 

. 1st Alto. 

2d Alto. 

. odAlto. 

1st Trombone. 

. Baritone. 

. B-flat Bass. 

Tuba. 

. Tuba. 

Bass Drum. 

Snare Drum. 

. Cymbals. 



NAMES OF THE SESQUI-OENTENNIAI. SIXOER.s. 

The following is a list of the names of those who took part in 
the singing exercises : 

William Moore Director. Mrs. xVddie C. Leathe, Pianist. 

Sopt'ano. 

Mrs. Abbie M. Colby, 
Mrs. J. L. Fleming, 
Miss L. Carrie Blanchard. 
Miss Nellie C. White, 
Miss Flora J. Tnbbs, 
Miss Alice J. Sawver. 
Miss Ethel C. Smith. 
Lena M. Shedd. 



Mrs. F. K. Longlev, 
Mrs. Will A. Knight, 
Mrs. A. E. OUis, 
Mrs. Geo. W. Ames, Jr., 
Mrs. Agnes A. Wheeeler, 
Mrs. Alvah Puffer, 
Mrs. Margie A. Davis, 

• Miss 



Alto. 



Mrs. Geo. AV. Farrar, 
Mrs. R. B. ILatch, 
Mrs. F. J. Shedd. 
Mrs. J. B. Shedd, 
Mrs. J. R. Moonev. 



Mrs. (i. R. Senter, 
Mrs. (;adie F. Hadley. 
Mrs. Geo. A. Sanders. 
:\Iiss Addie F. Bailey, 
Miss C(n-a E. Davis. 



(Jeorge H. Hardy, 
George C. Duiicaii, 
Jolni Cragiu, 
Daniel F. Emery, 
p]lbridge Howe, 
Jeruiue B. Sliedd, 



William T. Lawrence, 
Lnke F. Richardson, 
John O. Xav, 
Will A. Knigiit, 



180 



Tenor 



Bass. 



Frank J. Shedd. 
Edgar M. NVilkins, 
Albion P. Howe, 
John AV. Howe, 
Thomas A. Liscord, 
Fred B. Thonijjson. 



Freeman Pelsey, 
Charles H. Weeks, 
John H. Matthews, 
Charles E. Rav. 



Pieces sung — Mozart's 12th Mass, (ilory to God on High; Peter- 
liorough; Ode on Science; Strike IIk; Cymbals; Sons of Zion. 
and America. 



THE CONCERT. 



The concert in the evening by the Arion Quartet,, assisted by Miss 
Ida Florence, elocutionist, of Boston, drew a large audience to the 
opera house. The following is the program rendered: 



1. Quartet. 

2. Reading 

Miss Florence. 
Encore — "The Goblins.'' 

.■>. Solo . 

AY. I). Allen. 
Encore — "My Pretty Jane." 

-1. Quartet 

Encore — "Laugh, Bovs, Laugh.'' 



"Praise of the Soldier. "" 
"Robert of Lincoln." 

"Last Night." 

"Bill of Fare."' 



"). Reading. 
(1. Duet. . 



. Sleep walking scene from Macbeth. 
Miss Florence. 

"Eight Bells." 



Messrs. Allen and Aboni. 



<; u "Toast."' 

\h "The Water Mill." 

Specimen Reading Class. 



7. (Quartet 

8. Reading. ..... 

Miss Florence. 
Encore — "Two Fond Lovers." 

!t. Quartet 

Encore — "AVho built the Ark ?" 

10. Solo 

Encore— 'Tomorivtw will be Friday." 

11. Reading.. . . . "Dorcas Pennyroyal's Love Affairs." 

Encore — "Foreigners" views of the Statue of Liberty in Ncav 
York Harbor.'' 



. "Simple Simon." 
"Man-o'-AA'ars-Man.'' 



12. Quartet. 



'Serenade. 



As tlie n\iniei'ous encores would seem to indicate, tlie program 
was entluisiastically received, and tlie evening's entertainment was 
a pleasing one. The singing by the quartet was harmonious, and 
Miss Florence won immediate favor by the excellence of her read- 
ings. The net receipts added a goodly sum to the centennial fund. 
Much credit is due to Mr. W. D. Allen, formerly superintendent 
of the shoe factory and a resident, through whose efforts the ser- 
vices of the quartet and talented reader were secured. 

Following the concert, a large number joined in a social dance 
under the auspices of Appleton's orchestra, the centennial program 
closing with the concert. 

The following- is a list of those who were members of the choir 
and band at the celebration tlfty years ago who were present at 
this celebration: Mrs. Betsey Follansbee, aged 84 years: Alvali 
Ames, aged 83 j^ears; Mrs. Emeline Twitchell Clark, Mrs. Char- 
lotte Wilson Jackson, Mrs. Sarah Cheney Abbott, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Stone Peavey, Mrs. Andrew A. Farnsworth, Mrs. Louisa E. Burtt, 
MissElmira Fife, Miss Elvira Fife, Andrew A. Farnsworth, The- 
ophilus P. Ames, members of the choir; Peter H. Clark and Stej^h- 
en AVhite, members of the band. 

The newspaper men present were John F. Faxon of the Boston 
Herald, C. C. Clifford of the Boston Journal, Geo. H. Longley of 
the Boston Globe, Burnham of the Manchester Union, A. E. De- 
Wolfe of the Nashua Telegraph, E. M. Stanyan and F. P. Whitte- 
more of the Nashua Gazette, J. J. Donahue of the Associated 
Press, E. H. Cheney of the Lebanon Free Press, and A. A. Rotch 
of the Amherst Cabinet. 

About four hundred people partook of the excellent dinner fur- 
nished by caterer E. H. Smith, Avho received many compliments. 

It is estimated that there were nearly one thousand former sons 
and daughters of Peterborough present at the celebration, and it is 
to be regretted that a correct list of them was not secured. 

It should pass into history as a credit to this town that, notwith- 
standing a larger nund)er of people than ever before were congre- 
gated here on sesqui-centennial day, not a single ai-rest was made 
for drunkenness or disorder, and we have yet to leai'u that any 
person was seen or known to be badly intoxicated upon our streets 
on that dav. 



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